


Tomorrow Comes Today

by Verthril



Category: X-Men (Movies), X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) - Fandom
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-03
Updated: 2016-12-24
Packaged: 2018-03-10 07:40:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 50,948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3282353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Verthril/pseuds/Verthril
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Second chances weren't anything Logan ever thought he deserved, but waking up to one takes the choice right out of his hands. Now he's an old dog having to learn some new tricks, like when to let go and when to hold tight, because no man ever gets that lucky at having one last chance at life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made from this work.

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"Close the door, close the door, close the damn...fuck! Thanks a lot jackass!"

Having seven hours on the road behind him and a hell of an ache in his back, all he'd been looking for was a beer and a hot shower. Logan hadn't expected much for his homecoming, not after they way he'd left, but getting called a jackass before he even had a chance to kick off his boots wasn't too friendly even for him.

"Wolvie get loose?"

It took him a long time to face his ghost, taking the cowards way out once again in watching Jubilee chase after a wet mongrel of a dog that looked to be having too much fun rolling around out on the lawn. Finding his breath after the mule kick it was to hear her voice, Logan turned to face Jean.

"Wolvie?" A smirk tickled his lips, raising an eyebrow after the mutt.

"She missed you."

"She's got a hell o' a way of showing it."

Kicking off his boots and making himself at home, that was one thing that hadn't changed. All he had to do was close his eyes and let it fill him, the voices of a school that had been quiet for far too long. But for how familiar the school was, it still didn't feel right, the road still called to him in a way that left him feeling restless.

History had changed for the better, but that didn't make it any easier on him, not with his head full of two lifetimes that bucked and fought for dominance like a couple of bull moose.

"I thought I heard yer Harley." Another of his ghosts drifted down the stairs, the girl he'd known grown into a heck of a looker that must have made some boy a lucky fella.

"Hey kid." Logan greeted Marie.

"Sugah, don't make me smack the stupid outta you. Ain't gonna be long till your taking me to the bars with ya." Every bit as feisty as he remembered, he found the courage for a hug.

No Sentinels, no Cure, and Mutant Registration hadn't made it much further than the kind of rallies that found all the usual bigots and racists making up the crowd. That wasn't to say things were perfect, they still had a lot of work to do. But after living the alternative and losing so much time and again, he was living the dream that the Professor had kindled in them.

"Prick." Jubilee snapped in passing, holding in her arms a wet and muddy dog that looked very satisfied with himself.

"Chuck let her get a dog?" Logan asked of the young lady in his arms.

"She missed you."

That was a bit of history that could wait, he was plenty content to hold Marie as she swayed to some distant music. Boyfriends were sure to come and go, and just like before he'd promise to kick the living shit outta them if they ever broke her heart.

"You and Drake still, you know...?"

He'd never been known for subtlety so why beat around the bush. Marie went stiff in his arms, it was all the confirmation he needed to know that one bit of history he'd seen play out once before must have followed suit.

"Ah hell Logan, ya ain't allowed ta go beating him up. 'Course I'm hurting right now, but I'll get over him."

Swearing a promise with a hug, she fit too nicely in his arms to want to let go. Her gloves felt right in his hands, reassuring to know that he could always save her this time.

"Sorry to say this hun, but ya gotta let me go. I need ta lend a hand with dinner, and as much as I like the men in my life ta smell like men, you smell like ya need a shower."

"What's on the menu?" Logan asked, spinning Marie about so he could lose himself in her eyes.

She looked younger than he remembered, carefree despite all the same old hardships she'd suffered. Seeing Jean standing there with a wedding ring sparkling bright was the only reminder he needed to know that they all had been saved from a lot of heartache, the kind that forced kids to grow up fast.

"Gotta leave something to the imagination." Creeping up on her tip toes for a kiss to his cheek, Marie wandered off with mischief in her eyes, blushing bright with a skip in her step that did his heart good to see.

"Guess she missed me too?"

Closing the distance between them that had kept things safe, Jean leaned in for a kiss of her own to his cheek, "We all did Logan, welcome home."

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	2. Chapter 2

Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made from this work.

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Kicking the door shut and tossing his duffle down on the bed, Logan stood there with a small smile coaxed from feeling like he was really home. The room smelt right, lived in, it didn't smell like the hundred strangers who'd shared a bed with just a set of fresh linens between them. The road had it's charms, it gave him time to think, but Dorothy had it right.

That wasn't to say a few people hadn't been in his room, a breath was all it took to picture Marie doing a little dusting here and there. Pictures littered his dresser, friendly faces smiling in most while a few caught candid moments. Finding a favourite, Marie at the Alaskan border, it told a tale of fate, luck, or maybe just a destiny meant to play out.

"Need a lift?" Logan whispered, letting the hazy memories wash over him.

Laughlin City hadn't been anything more than a pit stop to gas up, use the shitter, and choke down a burger. In this life he'd met her outside of Vancouver, thumbing a ride as far north as he'd be willing to take her. From one end of Canada to the other they drove, going full circle for her as they crossed into a far flung chunk of the good ol' US of A.

"Where to now?"

_Don't got nowhere ta go._ She'd been running from herself, from the hurt she'd caused without ever meaning to, her story told between a few spells of quiet when static was all the radio got and neither of them had any desire to listen that same old cassette sticking out of the tape deck.

"I might know o' a place, and I reckon we're both a lil weary of the road."

Setting the photo back with the rest, a snort of laughter found him. Marie worked a dinner for a couple of weeks while he did a bit of logging he was no stranger to, scraping together enough cash together between some honest work and what he could get for his truck to fly them south.

He gave her a home, and she gave him a reason to stick around. He couldn't ever say what he'd been looking for out on the road until the day he found it, a certain someone missing from his life. It seemed he had his own promise to keep, making sure she didn't slip through the cracks as the Professor kept his.

A gift that hadn't been there when he'd left sat amongst all those photos, along with a garter that said he owed a lady a dance. Taking his time to peel back the tape, following each careful fold of the paper just to stall, it was a wedding album that whispered of how he'd been missed.

"What's another one?" Logan mused, tracing out the lace that framed the newlywed Summers.

Sitting at his bed and getting down to unpacking, he didn't have much, a change of drawers for each day, socks, some shirts and a couple pairs of jeans. Most of his baggage came in a few photo albums and a mess of books to help fill in the blanks. He was a man cursed to go chasing after his past, in this life and the last.

Tossing one book he wasn't yet finished with at an old arm chair before putting the rest away, the albums found their place on a coffee table that had seen a lifetime of neglect, wrecked with watermarked rings and cigar burns. Throwing shirt, socks, and everything between into the hamper, his shower had waited long enough.

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Blood hung in the air with the tang of salty tears wafting down the hall accompanied by a muted whimpering. A sniff was all it took to find his way around a corner, falling short as he recognized the room as Jean's. Yet it wasn't her who sat on the bed once he found his way to the door.

"What happened?"

It was hard to tell if Scott noticed him, but Jubilee looked up with a hiss as her cuts were cleaned, three raw red marks running down her arm tinged red with blood.

"Wolvie slipped in the tub and clawed me."

Hearing a dull tattoo beat against the hardwood, Logan leaned in enough to notice the dog in question looking sad and apologetic beside the bed. Figments of his own past urged him in, kneeling with the mutt for an affectionate petting full of shared sympathy.

"Ya sure she ain't gonna need stiches?" Logan joked, watching from the corner of his eye as gentle hands bandaged the wound.

"Fuck off, it's not like it was you who clawed me this time. Dick." Jubilee spat without any heat to her words, "Besides, Scott totally let me get some tats because of that."

Hiking up her shirt in a bit of forwardness that had both him and Scott blushing, Logan saw three scars hardly hidden by ink. Rubbing his knuckles that stung from the sight of his handiwork, a cold, damp nose drew him away from the dark thoughts.

"Thanks, Scott." Jubilee said with a chaste kiss, "I'm gonna go see if Roguey has any giblets left that I can steal so dumb dumb here knows I ain't mad at him. C'mon Wolvie!"

Leaving Scott to pack up the first aid kit as Jubilee became nothing more than a distant trampling down the hall, Logan couldn't help but admire a few photos of the day he'd missed.

"I hope she's talking about the dog."

As hard as a man as he was to read, Scott's laugh and reluctant smile made the moment easy between them.

"I couldn't tell you." Scott said, shaking his head with a quiet chuckle.

"You looked good by the way, sorry I missed it."

That was a lie he'd practised along with a few more just in case, he couldn't be there on that day, he couldn't be the man they needed him to be. He loved Jean, that hadn't changed, but it was a love he was content to leave unrequited. His heart ached out of a longing to have been there, to hand her off as Charles had, but that wasn't the man they knew him to be. So he ran.

A drawer drawn open, long and slow, saved him anymore awkward words. As a man with as many broken promises as he had, Logan saw in a bottle one he could keep, a memory coming forward that he welcomed. Glasses were found that looked to be a wedding gift, one last toast saved for him to the newlyweds.

Holding the tumbler filled with a finger of twenty year old Scotch, Logan raised his. "To the better man."

"To a good man." Scott replied, clinking his glass together before downing a belt of the Highlands best.

There was nothing else to be said, the glasses were filled a few more times to be savoured by the sip. The most bitter of rivals could be the closest of friends, that was a truth that had them leave their glasses empty beside the bottle as an excuse to come back and see if they couldn't find something else to say.

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"Drop the giblets and no one has ta git hurt!"

"...okay."

Knowing a poor choice of words in hindsight, Marie witnessed the giblets for her gravy get wolfed down faster than she could say ' _Aw Shucks_ '. Licking his lips and looking for more, Wolvie wagged his tail with imploring puppy dog eyes that begged for more.

"Dammit Jubilee!"

"My work here is done, c'mon Wolvie!"

"Oh hells no, you git yer ass to the sink this instant!"

"Bathe the dog, wash the dishes. Or you'll be sleeping with the fishes. Cinderelly, Cinderelly!"

"You calling me an evil step sister?"

"Heck naw, you rock a Rapunzel vibe. Sexy shut in that knows her way around a cast iron skillet."

"Excuse me? Shut in? Gawd, I only broke up with Bobby..."

"Like, forever ago?"

"You're just pissed you were the rebound."

"Keep telling yourself that, I was only looking for a good time and we were hot slow dancing together. Word."

For as mad as she was about her giblet gravy getting struck from the menu, Marie let go of the laughter bottled up ever since she'd been called a sexy Rapunzel. Noticing she had a shadow, a couple of trimmings fell to the floor never to make it. Thinking of the man Wolvie was named after, Marie bit her lip as she mulled over a question she was afraid to ask.

"Hey Jubes, does Logan seem...?"

"Like he's got a dung beetle of a bug up his butt?"

"I was gonna say a little off."

"Cha right Roguey. Take it from me, I've seen him off. He's just being classic moody broody Logan."

"I dunno, he seems...different."

"Well, if it looks like a Logan, and drinks like a Logan, it's a Canuck. Unless it's Raven playing a joke on us, in which case I'd pay to see her and Hank make out." Jubilee rambled on, catching Marie looking at her in utter shock, "What!? It's my guilty pleasure, who cares if it'd get me the electric chair!"

"So wrong."

"I don't wanna be right."

Laughing as she threw one last trimming to Wolvie, Marie ambled up to the sink and nudged Jubilee out of her way so she could rinse her hands in the wash water. Wiggling wet fingers at her in retort, Jubilee set about drying a few of the dishes from the strainer to make room for the rest.

"You think he found it?" Marie asked, her voice betraying the uncertainty she felt about the gift she'd left him.

"No, he just somehow completely missed all that hot pink wrapping paper I gave you. Fail Roguey, epic fail!"

"Bitch."

"What can I say? I was raised my wolves! Truth, Hank's my Baloo, he taught me the bear necessities. Twinkies ftw."

"Well, go git decent already. Dinner's in twenty."

"Golly, I didn't know this was a hoity toity dinner. C'mon Wolvie, we gotta go find your good collar."

Shoving her pest out of the kitchen, Marie lingered behind long enough to check on her chicken and give it one last basting of butter. It was a family dinner the likes she'd grown up with, everyone back under one roof and all the grievances to be forgiven at grace, and anyone who had a bit of lip could just go pound salt.

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	3. Chapter 3

Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made from this work.

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"I don't know what ya did bub, but yer on your own." Ignoring the guilty eyes staring at him, Logan found his page and the flow of the story told by skipping back a few paragraphs.

Curling into a ball on the other end of the couch, Wolvie played at being pathetic in hopes of garnering sympathy for whatever crime he had committed.

"I could autograph that for you if you'd like."

Hanging back in the hall and pointing with his coffee, Hank stood dressed down for the evening in a sweater and slacks.

"Sure, just don't go asking me for a review." Logan said, welcoming the interruption to his reading.

Wolvie made room for Hank, spinning about twice in the space between to get comfortable again with his head resting upon the lap of the genius lecturer. The pleasing, bitter aroma of coffee was a reminder of Logan's own forgotten cup, finding it cold but drinking it down just the same. Passing off his reading for the night, Logan used it as an excuse to give the dog between them a reluctant petting.

"It was Churchill who said that history is written by the victors was it not?" Hank remarked, scribbling away at the inside cover with a pen he favoured for grading.

"I reckon I heard that said somewhere once before." Logan admitted, an echo from the past calling out weakly for how far it had travelled.

He could count the people who knew the truth with one hand, and of those Hank sat high on that short list. Satisfying his curiosity at what had been written, Logan found them to be weighty words indeed. "To the small victories, eh? I'll drink to that."

"A smashing suggestion, I'll be sure to save a day on my calendar. Alas, coffee will have to suffice tonight. I've much to catch up on, but I'm preaching to the choir am I not?"

"Coffee ain't such a bad idea either."

No sooner than was he on his feet and a few steps to the door did Logan hear a velvety laugh from Hank that had him look back. "Would you jump into my grave as quick?"

As unrepentant as any dog looking for a warm place to stretch out on, Wolvie broke out into a tongue lolling smile, begging forgiveness with the wagging of his tail. With a smirk and a shake of his head, Logan left Hank to keep an eye on the mutt, the school was a place for strays after all.

A home cooked had been a nice welcome back, breaking bread and making small talk with all the kids that fought for the seats nearest him. Questions about his travels were in high demand, along with promises that he'd be sticking around for a while. Strange as it was, he had classes to teach that didn't involve the hard taught lessons of a drifter, his ever elusive past no secret to him now. All it took was the right book to go jar loose a fragment, that and time for it to sink in.

"Logan!"

"Evening Summers, what can I do fer ya?"

Even though he'd buried that hatchet and was more than happy to see the man among the living again, it tickled him every time he set Scott off balance.

"Got a few classes tomorrow that could use a teacher if you're interested, auto shop, early twentieth century history, home economics." Despite the perfect poker face, Logan could tell Scott was smirking at the last class he offered.

"Sure, just as long as I can play a little fast and loose with the lesson plan." Logan said with a firm smack to Scott's shoulder.

Looking like a man who was trying to figure out the punchline, Scott played it straight and passed off the bundle of textbooks and attendance sheets he had tucked under his arm. Hot pink and screaming yellow sticky notes marked the chapters, not hard at all to guess who'd been teaching in his place for the weeks he'd been away.

"Auto shop at eight, and Logan? Thanks."

Needing a cup of coffee now more than ever, the rest of Hank's book could wait, he had enough reading to skim over before first bell rang. Eyeing a smiley face peeking out from one of the weighty texts, at least he could ask a certain lil lady for the cliff notes.

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"Rogue's gone for a walk, Kitty's raiding in World of Dorkcraft, and Jean's a married woman now mister. If you're looking for anyone else, then I hope ya got digits."

Sitting alone at the island, Jubilee had a weighty text of her own that she seemed to be skimming over, making notes now and again between sips of her soda. The gurgling hiss of coffee percolating hinted at a late night ahead. Sneaking a fresh mug taken black, Logan settled down across from her.

She could stand a few lessons with Summers about poker faces, her shades weren't fooling anyone as she played at ignoring him. A picture in his wallet hinted at them having a history together, Jubilee then just a girl looking a lot younger than Marie was when he'd first met her.

"Actually I found the lady I was lookin' for."

"Huh, musta just left. If ya run you could probably still catch her." Jubilee said with a shrug after a quick glance around the kitchen.

"Smart ass."

"Learned from the best, bub. What do ya want?"

"Well, busy as ya look to be, I was hopin' you could spare a few minutes to bring me up ta speed."

"God, you must be going senile or something." Jubilee snapped, snatching at the text to tear it open to the first of the sticky notes, "I thought ya lived through most of this stuff."

Her snort of laughter sounded much like his own, not hard at all to imagine the surly girl pictured in his wallet giving him all kinds of lip. Sitting at the island with her fussing and fighting over class work stung of a painful nostalgia when played against the unbidden memory only a few hours old, the scars on her back enough to have him massaging the flesh between his knuckles.

"The Great Depression. Ya know what, Netflix them a documentary on the '08 Financial Crisis, bring the lesson into the new millennium for the kids. Just pause it a lot to talk about the parallels, then dig into the whole dust bowl deal that could totally be a touchstone to climate change today."

Catching himself staring, it wasn't as if he hadn't followed what she had been saying as much as he hadn't expected such a sensible lesson plan. His smirk earned him her furrowed brows and a dismissive shrug as she got back to her own reading.

"That's all on that internet thing, right?" Logan asked, lucky he had the island between them otherwise he just might have gotten kicked for how she scowled at him.

"Last question, then I'll leave ya to yer reading. What's got yer mutt looking so guilty?"

Considering the question and likely running through the pups rap sheet, Jubilee marked her page and excused herself without a word. Cracking open a text and getting down to some reading himself. He didn't find any stories to tell of men waiting in line at soup kitchens, nor of migrants looking for work after being driven from their livelihood by barren fields or the dust and grit that got into everything.

"Not my time." Logan whispered, his coffee gone cold again, "Not until the mud and the blood."

Clapping the text shut against the past clawing at him from the pages, he found a bit of wisdom from the veritable mouth of babes. He had enough living to catch up on without digging after the dead, a wedding album waiting for him in his room just the thing he needed to bring things ahead. Fixing one final cup of coffee, he gave his thanks with a sticky note left behind, a smiley face for a girl he should get to know again.

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Curled up in the old arm chair, his feet up on the coffee table, Logan flipped through the album that had been made especially for him. Pictures weren't all he found within, littered with tiny keepsakes and little notes writ in many a hand. The music that played wasn't his usual choice to wind down to for the night, a cd sitting beneath the cover the soundtrack to the blissful union of the now wed Summers.

The knock at his door was telling enough, the sweet scent of sweat casting aside any doubt even as it roused something within him that felt wrong held in the light of their friendship.

"I'm comin'." Logan grunted, getting to his feet and wondering just where he'd tossed aside his shirt.

The door opened without any invitation to reveal Marie standing there looking like a walk hadn't been enough, dressed for the gym in a way that had the boys getting on his shit list for how hungrily their eyes followed after her. Forgetting his shirt as her eyes met his, Logan searched for something to say as the moment became awkward.

"What? Ya said come in, didn't ya?"

"Might have, just figured I'd throw on a shirt if I was entertaining company."

"So I'm company huh?"

Spoken with a playful sass, Marie looked to the dresser for reassurance that he'd noticed her gift, a smile found in its stead that only grew brighter as she saw just where it lay. Stealing his seat with her elbows against her knees so she might cup her chin in hand, she stole a peek at just the page he was on, letting out a lively laugh at the moment caught there.

"Guess I know where that garter came from now." Logan grunted, forgetting his shirt and ambling off to fix a drink three fingers deep.

"I ain't saying nothing, but I won't deny I might have seen Lee playing a whole mess of fetch with Wolvie a week before the wedding."

That was a story told by a picture of a mistress and her mutt running from all the eligible bachelors, heels in her hand and her dress hiked up high to put a safe distance between them. Marie however sat silently stroking a saved flower pressed between the pages, set beside a photo of her snagging the bouquet with all the grace that fierce tradition bred.

"Guess that means I owe ya a dance." Logan said softly with a look to the garter that found a special place among the smiling faces that sat upon his dresser.

"I think I'll save that chip for another day, that was a black tie affair after all. Ya know what they say, no shirt...no service, not that I ain't admiring the view."

Riled up and finding release with a throaty growl, her laughter hinted that she had taken it as the grumpy ol' Canuck she knew him to be, not the man who saw her for the lady he had the pleasure of entertaining that evening. A rose without her thorns, his Rogue had been laid to rest with only a memorial as so many before her had been remembered by, flowers left to fade against the memory that never would.

"Well, if it's a black tie affair yer lookin' for, I just happen to keep company with a couple o' fellas that got a knack for getting invited to them. Believe it or not, but I can clean up when properly motivated." Logan said after a sip of his whiskey, the courage found in the bottom of a glass burning in his belly.

"You asking me out on a date?" Marie held a mystery in her eyes and a secret in her smile, daring him to discover their meaning if he only had the gall.

For all his promises to not squander his second chance, already a wedding had slipped away through the hourglass. The music played as an echo of that missed moment, letting go of all the ifs and buts that held him back and seeking to live in the moment he'd been given anew.

"Why don't we start with dinner and see where things go from there, somewhere they won't let a fella in unless he knows his way around a tie that don't come with a clip?"

Laughter like he'd know, laughter like he missed soothed his soul. He could face up to his worries and the countless catastrophes that could happen, nothing was writ in stone after all, but just maybe there were some destinies to be played out. Seeing a chance at finding out, he wandered off and hit play for the last present that had been left for him.

"Figured I'd save this till a special someone had a moment to sit for a spell, ya ain't got plans do ya?"

Shaking her head against any such silly notions as her smile turned sublime, Marie curled within the comfort of the old arm chair as he hunkered down with her. He might have missed the wedding, but there were some memories to be made after all the toasts had been said and the vows sown, holding her hand in his to let a warmth build between them.

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	4. Chapter 4

Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made from this work.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

Quietly closing the door given the late hour, Marie felt a tiny bit relieved that she no longer shared a room as she had for so many years. If she had she surely would have had a very curious roommate wondering why she was breaking curfew, not that she had to worry about her hours anymore, and just where had she been for that matter. Sleep wasn't anything she could think of, she had far too much running about her head as she wandered down the hall in a borrowed tee of Logan's.

It smelt like him, of old spice and cigars, with just a hint of that manly aroma she liked. All her time training Bobby had been for naught after all, something paid forward for whoever might fall for his boyish good looks despite his beard. Shaking her head against the thought of that little bit of touch it let her enjoy, stroking his scruff and stealing kisses, she was beyond all that now.

Tip toeing down the stairs, taking care to avoid all the squeaky few that came with any home as old as mansion, the den seemed empty without Jones up watching television to pass the time. Binging on netflix had become his new pastime, but like them all he earned his keep in his own way tending the cameras around the school in the midnight hours.

The kitchen wasn't as empty as she had hoped it to be, but the company was welcome, finding Jean sitting there with a cup of tea that hinted she wasn't yet ready for a nights rest herself. The look of surprise upon her avian features though was telling, fading to a curiosity that had her tea forgotten.

"Ah heck, I'm projecting ain't I?" Marie asked, realizing her mistake.

"Dancing?"

"Some place he ain't allowed ta walk into without a jacket and tie, I guess that means I get to dress up too."

Setting the kettle back to boil and making a rummage of Jubilee's hot chocolate stash, the marshmallows were tucked away behind a bag of rice crackers no one remembered buying.

"Fine, I'll say it only because I know you're expecting me to. Be careful." Jean said in a sudden huff, haughtily sipping on her tea with a hint of a smile.

She'd been waiting for it and it was all she wanted from the woman who had helped her in so many ways. Truth be told it was a little terrifying to think she was going out dancing with Logan, but not in any way that scared her, instead it was the thrill of doing something reckless despite all the reasons she could come up not to.

"Thanks Jean."

Smiling at the concern that said she had people in her life who cared about her, Marie tore one packet open and considered a second, deciding it was a night to treat herself as she fetched the cream from the fridge. Settling down with her sweet treat, quiet evenings such that they were enjoying were always her favourite.

"Decide where yer taking your honeymoon yet?" Marie asked, turning the conversation away from herself.

"I'm for Hawaii, but Scott wants to rent a floatplane and trek up to Alaska." Jean started with a weary sigh, "So we're seeing about splitting the difference, maybe do some island hopping somewhere exotic, and most importantly...tropical."

"Gotta say all o' that sounds nice, even Alaska. Sure was pretty enough riding shotgun in that ol' beat up truck of Logan's, I can only imagine what it'd be like to get a bird's eye view."

A kick under the table hinted that her opinion on Alaska wasn't welcome while Hawaii was being held hostage. Laughing breathlessly, a childhood of staring at maps carried the conversation along with suggestions of far of locals, leaving out memories of how magical the places must have been by the pictures tucked away in National Geographics.

"You're projecting again." Jean whispered, though her eyes were full of thanks.

"Just be sure to send me some postcards."

Whenever anyone went away, even if it was just back to Long Island so Bobby could visit his family, it was the same old promise. There was just something magical about getting something in the mail that tied them together like bits of string on a map, strung between tacks telling of all the travels.

"I promise, and maybe I'll find a seashell or two if I can drag the hubby out for a few walks along the shore at sunset."

"I'd like that." Marie had just the place on her dresser for a few, welcome company to her other souvenirs from her own travels.

Setting aside her mug to soak in the sink, Marie felt her bed beckoning her, having a handful of sweet dreams to see her through to the dawn. Tossing aside her gym clothes, her borrowed tee fell back over her shoulders, whispering a reasonable lie to herself.

"Why go makin' more laundry."

Climbing beneath her blanket, old spice and cigars were fuel for one more dream, that and the gruff fragrance of what a man was supposed to smell like.

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Whiskey on the rocks was a cocktail that usually laid his demons to rest, sipping slow and listening to the kind of music that spoke to his old soul. But when even that wouldn't let him find a bit of rest for the night, all Logan could do was take a walk.

A playlist on his phone stirred memories of seedy bars that bore legends, it was strange getting to know the man he'd been, seeing just why a man like that might go looking to forget.

"Careful what ya wish for bub." Logan chuckled, feeling a laugh note quite his own rumble from deep within.

A whisper in his ear told of a man dreaming he was a butterfly, or was it a butterfly dreaming he was a man? Staring up at the stars above, Logan figured both of them could agree it was the flapping of wings they had to worry about, someone had to reap the whirlwind.

The line in the sand was getting harder to see, fifty years wasn't much against all the life he'd seen, just shy of fifty as it was waking up a good decade short. It wasn't as if he could ask Kitty about it either, it'd been a gamble to go as far back as they had, all because they'd been out of options. If it hadn't been for Chuck or Hank he'd figure he was just going crazy after living too much life, but it was all real, for better or worst.

"If only I knew then what I know now."

Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, that was another saying thrown around and one he had to take to heart. The world was too perfect it might damn well be a dream, but all it took to know he wasn't dreaming was the sight of his claws beneath the pale moonlight. Bone like he'd been borne with stood against the night, another trap avoided.

That truth came out in a memory that was little more than a mirage, he'd never sunk his knuckle deep into his Rogue in this life, she never had to take him in like that. That came later, just another bit of destiny that couldn't be avoided, except that she chose to take Erik in to stop him from doing something even worse. She had her souvenir in that skunk streak that looked so good on her, that and all the bad habits of a certain Canuck.

"Still managed to hurt someone." Logan grunted, thinking of another time he'd sunk them knuckle deep, that time in an act of mercy that had nearly killed him.

It wasn't Jeanie though this time, but instead Jubilee. Sheathing his claws with a wet shlunk of bone slipping beneath flesh, he'd been running from that bit of history long enough, heading back to the school with one room in mind. His feet guided him up the steps and down the hall without so much of a second thought, his knuckles raised and ready to rap at the door until he thought better of it, friends never needed to knock.

Sure enough she was asleep, but the Wolvie she'd found to fill the hole in her life looked up from his place by the crook of her curled form. With a weary yawn and a snap of his jowls, Wolvie settled back down, content to know who was creeping around his mistresses accommodations.

"She always had a good eye for strays." Logan whispered, words he felt to be true.

A cowboy hat hanging on the wall was an invitation to try it on, finding it a perfect fit as he looked at himself in her vanity mirror. Pictures were pinched beneath the trim, some he expected, like Marie and Kitty and her making fools of themselves in a photo booth, others surprised him, like her and Scott sitting on a Harley Logan might have admitted to stealing once in a past life.

"Ugh, worst guard dog ever Wolvie." Jubilee wearily whimpered.

"Ya talkin' about me or him?" Logan asked, leaning up against her dresser as she stirred.

Wolvie begged forgiveness with kisses to her chin and a whimpering to match her own, quickly taken up in her arms for a hug and pettings that had him wagging happily in her embrace.

"That's mine bub, no take backs." Jubilee said, and dark as it was her eyes caught his in the moonlight.

Closing the distance between them, he laid the hat down on her that was too large but suited her with how it fell down over her ears. An ache he wasn't expecting made his eyes misty, seeing bits of destiny playing out but just that slight bit differently, dog tags in his past life and a cowboy hat in this one.

"You done being a moody, broody jerk?" Jubilee asked, playing with Wolvie's ears between her fingers.

"I might just have needed a bit o' space, but I reckon I'm ready to open the lines of communication again."

Her smile was all he needed to see, plucking his hat that was just another promise and setting it down on her night stand. By the time he could finally let go, she was already curled up and courting a good nights sleep with her pup keeping her company. Closing the door quietly behind him, he felt ready to chase after a few hours of sleep to see him through the day ahead.

Passing one door in particular and fighting against the urge to have a peek, he'd tossed aside anything so safe between them but hours before. Resting his hand against the wood and listening close, Marie slept soundly somewhere beyond the woodcraft that kept them apart. Smirking in satisfaction, maybe another night he'd find the gall to go see just what an early morning visit might entail between them, tonight he had to pick and choose his battles.

"Sweet dreams." Logan whispered, wondering what his own would hold.

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	5. Chapter 5

Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made from this work.

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"Would you ever date anyone younger?"

"That's an odd question to hear first thing in the morning." Scott said between the bit of floss hanging from his mouth.

Especially odd since they were married so dating was absolutely out of the question, it left him wondering just why she had asked. Sighing heavily from her frustration, Jean looked to reconsider her question as she brushed her teeth. His and Her sinks had been a brilliant idea, along with upgrading their en suite bath to include a larger shower and a cast iron tub.

The students had been more than enthused to set to task, livening up the wood shop with some practical applications of their lessons, and the needed demolition that had fights over who would be swinging the sledge.

"Pretend we're not married." Jean began.

"That's a horrible game." Scott figured the slap was deserved, just a playful swat to bring him in line.

"I'm serious Scott, I'm worried about a friend."

"A friend?" Scott pressed, he could tell she was worried and it had him feeling the same.

"Yes, maybe a Facebook friend."

"This is serious then. How much younger?"

Jean once again seemed to consider the questions they were bandying about. She was being careful and that put him on guard, Jean wasn't one to keep things from him unless she had very good reasons, it left him wondering if he knew this friend in question. Ororo came to mind, she had a history of relationships that hadn't worked out for a variety of reasons.

"Fine, for the sake of argument lets say it's Jubilee."

Listerine was horrible enough without swallowing it, especially given that he tended to use the original formula out of a loathing of anything cool mint in general.

"Can I pick Kitty instead?" Logic said that the water out of the bathroom tap was the very same that came from the kitchen sink, but something about his dixie cup chaser tasted _off_.

"Why Kitty?" Jean looked dubiously at him.

"Why Jubilee?" Scott parried the verbal blow in their parley, he had his back to the wall and needed to get Jean on the defensive quickly.

There were times he wished Jean could see his eyes to know his mood, a smile was less without that window to the soul, a smirk could become jagged without the humour hidden behind his ruby quartz shades. Telepathy was a crutch neither of them wanted to rely on, saving it for the truly special moments like lovemaking or the anticipation that lasted only as long as the wrapping paper did.

"Only if I really felt something, some spark." Scott relented with a kiss, "Something that told me that this person was right for me, and that I was right for them."

"Kitty?" Jean pressed.

"No spark, just easier to imagine that Jubilee. She's the bratty kid sister I never asked for, the kind of girl that would embarrass me in front of my girlfriend."

He didn't need to read her mind to know her thoughts, her laugh told of all the times Jubilee had done just that, most recently running off with the garter at their wedding. Wrapping his love up in a hug that forgave all the silly questions, Scott hoped he'd given Jean the answers she needed to help her friend, Facebook or otherwise.

"I think I'm ready for that shower now Mister Summers."

"Right behind you Mrs. Summers."

Robes were hung and laundry was added to the hamper, a shower run so that they might enjoy the intimate moment all in the name of conservation. They had classes to teach after all, so a long soak together in their cast iron tub was out of the question. But they were owed a honeymoon, there was still plenty of time for lazy mornings then.

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"Not getting this back."

Except a heady breath made a liar of Marie, tossing his shirt in with her laundry just so she could give it back clean and fresh so he could go about getting it dirty all over again for her to _borrow_ once more. A playfully perverted thought ran through her head, casually stopping by his room with her hamper in hand, all of her unmentionables there for him to see along with his shirt.

Biting her bottom lip at the memory of his throaty growl from the night before, her cheeks burned as she looked at the whole evening in a new light. Recalling the tender touch of his hand holding hers, it was ever so easy to imagine him as her plus one to the wedding of the Summers. It was a flight of fancy that saw her through a longer than usual shower, she had enough memories of the wedding that she wouldn't change for the world, memories of a pop rocks kiss with Jubilee that made all the boys jealous.

"Closest I ever came ta seein' stars after a kiss." Marie laughed, celebrating the wedding with fireworks fuelled by how happy she had been for the two newlyweds.

Logan had a throaty growl for her kiss with Jubes, and a need to wet his lips with whiskey just so he could grunt some remark in reply to her expecting eyes begging for something, anything to be said.

"God, it's just dancing." Marie huffed, trying to bring herself back down to Earth.

Except it didn't feel safe like the kind of dancing she'd enjoyed with Jubilee. No matter how loose their inhibitions had been for that one night, they could still be friends in the morning because they had no expectations otherwise.

"Just friends?" Logan had always seemed more than a friend, he let her do things a friend might caution against, all he'd ever needed to know was that she was being true to herself.

The question struck her hard, stole her breath and sent a shiver down her back. Looking at her reflection, a woman stared back at her who she hardly recognized, a woman whose expectations she would have to come to know.

"Golly girl, when d'ya go and grow up?" Marie mused, wondering if that was a question Logan had asked of himself.

Rubbing her eyes until they hurt, why couldn't it be her day off? Granted she didn't have class at Eight sharp, otherwise she would have already been late. But she still had classes to teach, a mix of playing Teachers Assistant among the few she was confident enough to helm herself. Throwing on a pair of jeans and a long sleeved shirt of a creamy green, gloves were a must but she favoured ones that had a short cuff, confident enough to flash a daring bit of skin with her wrist there for all to see.

"Scandalous." Marie laughed at the memory of Kitty's teasing the day her trusty opera gloves had been relegated to the back of the closet.

Taking a calming breath from behind her door, a single step past the threshold was Terra Incognita, a world where her and Logan were on for dinner and dancing just as soon as they pegged down a date. The first step was a doozy just like they said, but it was all downhill from there as she mingled among the students running about late for class, students like she had been until the day she grew up.

"Enjoy it while ya can."

Somewhere a torch had been passed and she hadn't even noticed, caught up in playing a big sister to those kids who needed one. It was a fine tradition, one she was happy to be a part of.

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"Somebody slept well."

The babyface out of the bunch, Kitty was dressed to impress as ever in a business casual that said she wasn't a student. Jogging to catch up, a few students were bulled out of the way while one was treated to the strange sensation of his teacher ghosting right through him.

"I did." Marie agreed, realizing just how soundly she had slept through the night.

Lunch was on, classes were out for the hour, and the halls were a mess. Looking at the stairs that kept them from the main floor, Marie caught Kitty peeking to the floor below with mischief in her eyes. While Jubilee was the brat out of their small group of friends, Kitty could live up to her nickname from time to time.

"Shall we?" Kitty asked, poking Marie's cheek until she felt the tingling spark of static that told of her power kicking in.

Holding their books to their chest and entwining one another arm in arm as if they were out for a stroll, they walked off through the railing and landed lightly upon the floor below to the adoration of their students.

"You think we're a bad influence?" Marie mused, temptation alight in the eyes of the kids that littered the hall.

"That was tame compared to what Jubes and Blink get up to if we're talking about bad influences. I have to say, as nice as it was seeing Clarice come out of her shell, we created a monster."

"Remember what they did the day we graduated knowing damn well they couldn't get detention for it?"

"Shh, no. Bad Marie. We can't go putting ideas in their heads." Kitty hissed, noticing the attentive eyes of students eavesdropping on them.

Arm in arm all the way out to the patio they'd agreed on through a few texts, Marie found herself marvelling at how much her life had changed ever since a gruff fella picked her up outside of Vancouver. People had humoured her on the way up from Meridian when it came time for introductions, calling herself Rogue just to keep the tarnish off that special piece of her soul.

Opening up her heart as she was welcomed in by others, it felt silly to go by such a name, sharing what little she had from her old life that was worth keeping. Now she was Miss Marie to the kids that saw her as someone so wise, Marie to most, and to a few she just couldn't shake off that old nickname that had become something else. Rogue had become her armour as much as her uniform, a name she was thankful never to have to use too much.

"Miss Munroe, Miss Ferguson." Marie greeted, noticing one of their number was still missing, but that wasn't anything new with Jubilee.

"Miss Marie, Professor Pryde." Ororo returned.

"Save it until I come back." Kitty had the decency to blush, she was but months away from living out her own dream to follow in the footsteps of a man who had inspired her in so many ways.

"Be sure to send me some postcards." Marie teased.

Stubborn as always, Kitty had fought to do things her way, distancing herself from the Professor as far as she could just so she could know it was through her own merit that had her taking that trip across the pond to study at the prestigious Oxford University.

"Come and get your own, just make sure it's when I don't have exams." It was a date made knowing they'd miss another, but that was a long list of people after all.

"The clocks ticking." Clarice noted with the snap of her book clapped shut punctuating her statement, "The game's Texas Hold'em. Lets get these cards dealt."

Sharing one last look with Kitty, Marie broke into giggles first thinking about their earlier conversation. Clarice for her part looked confused, though Ororo simply smiled and threw down a twenty for her buy in. The only table talk allowed was about their students or love lives, and this game Marie felt ready to find out if Kitty still nursed a crush for Bobby.

She had pocket Aces off the start in Logan, bullets to be saved unless she needed to shake up the bidding. The game might not be craps, but baby needed a new pair of shoes so Marie was ready to take their money. Letting the ladies read what they would of her expression, just maybe she'd settle for a new dress, something she could dancing in.

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"Ew! Wolvie, put that down!"

Cracking open a can of beer with a chuckle, this time Logan knew Jubilee was talking about the dog, his namesake coming back with an unidentifiable bit of road kill blackened from the sun and as dry as jerky.

"No! No kisses! Drinking from the toilet is one thing, I clean that! I don't even know what that is...was."

He had memories of walks like this, wandering down the shoulder with a six pack and a mouthy bit of company trailing him on her skateboard. Tonight he made a new one, walking along with a mistress and her mutt, finding his footing in a relationship that stretched back to before she got her first training bra.

"Rabbit." Logan grunted, a whiff was all it took to tell him the nature of the dried out remains.

"Thumper got dun run over."

Coaxing Wolvie away from his find with a biscuit, a crunch and crackle had him looking for crumbs in the gravel. Logan wasn't about to let on that he had a pocket full of the bone shaped treats, that was a game played between him and Lee that felt too natural, palming things between them that it'd take a trained eye to notice. They kept the poor pup guessing from whom his next treat would come from.

"If a fella were ta take ya dancing, where'd you wanna go?"

He always used to wonder where he found the rhythm for a dance, there were nights he surprised himself, turning a bit of flirting meant to swoon a lady into his sheets for a tumble into something memorable.

"You mean real dancing or just grinding at the club like it's foreplay."

He couldn't tell just why he growled like he did, whether out of an ingrained protective urge from the image of some chump grinding up against the little lady he found himself enjoying the evening with, or because the beast down in his bones caught a whiff of something it liked at picturing something else. Neither mistress or her mutt seemed too phased by his guttural reply, jogging ahead racing one another until they became breathless.

"Real dancing." Logan grunted as he caught up to them.

"Uh oh, we got Logan in trouble." Jubilee teased in a sing song voice, petting Wolvie out of their conspiracy to catch the garter.

"Kid, cut the crap."

"Alright, alright. Jeez, someone's still got that bug up their butt." Jubilee grumbled, hugging her pup as she let herself go soft, girly in a word that Logan felt on the tip of his tongue, "If we're just talking a slow dance between beers, then ya might as well take her to the Roadhouse."

"And if I owe her a nice dinner at a place with a dress code?"

Eyes older than they should be looked on him, full of a kind of wisdom that stung to see in them, the kind gained from getting knocked around that left a person guarded. His gut told him he wasn't a stranger to those eyes, but he still didn't like seeing such an expression in a lady hardly much more than a girl.

"Ask Jeannie or Ro, cause I dunno. Only time I ever danced like that was with Roguey, and I gotta say Logan, it left me hopin' I just might meet Mister Right for my next do-si-do."

"Thanks Kid, gave me something to think about."

He'd seen the longing between them that had been preserved in High Def, the gentle touches and whispered words that were there if only he looked past the teasing they played at, flirting as they were for all to see. Beneath their blush lay a desire for someone to cut in, consoling another with a kiss that had carried all wishes.

He caught Jubilee for a hug that reminded him how tiny she was, reminded him of carrying her back to the school with the sun setting behind them with her a welcome weight at his back. Something said she might be a bit too stubborn to go asking for a piggy back ride these days, but she didn't have anything against walking side by side waiting out Wolvie to show signs of tuckering himself out from searching for the horizon.

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	6. Chapter 6

Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made from this work.

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"Is Clarice done putting her face put on?"

"You can't rush an artist Roguey, give me five more minutes." Jubilee snapped haughtily.

Suffering in silence, Clarice sat at the vanity with all the makeup that became her mask, her violet hair was trendy enough to go overlooked while her eyes could be written off a contacts if anyone asked.

"I'll give ya ten, I gotta go check on my laundry anyway." Smiling in sympathy, Marie waved to the once shy girl.

"Who does laundry on a Saturday morning?" Jubilee questioned, lightly shadowing Clarice's eyes as to let her lilac skin peek out in a shared secret between them.

Truth be told, laundry was a chore Marie usually saved for a Saturday evening as she caught up on a bit of grading with whatever romantic comedy caught her eye on Netflix. Today she had her reasons however slightly perverted they might be.

Usually she didn't care what went in the hamper, she'd do her sorting after tossing her laundry out on her bed, but today she took the time to fold her jeans, shirts, and roll her socks up in matching pairs. Everything else was left on top with Logan's shirt tangled in the mix.

Taking the stairs two at a time, her watch said that she would be right on time to a habit he'd kept for all the years he'd called the school home. Rapping at his bedroom door in a knock that was wholly her own, the cry of the General Lee that was an inside joke between them. Any thought to taking a moment to collect herself was ignored, breathless would be better, flushed and blushing and looking hurried with stray locks of hair tumbled free of her ponytail.

Except that the moment Logan answered the door she couldn't breath, all her scheming had just bit her in the ass as she noticed as if for the first time just how ripped Logan really was. He was slick with sweat and equally breathless, pounding back a glass of water to see him through his morning work out of push ups that were his warm up before hitting the gym with Pete.

"Uh, uh, Hi." Marie croaked.

"Runnin' late?" Logan asked, offering her his half full glass.

Drinking deep and slow as an excuse to figure out just what to say next, Marie realized she was sipping right from the side he had. Rolling her tongue over the rim, she could taste the hint of cigar that told just how few the degrees away from his lips she had been.

"Shopping, dress." Marie sputtered, gasping again and feeling foolish for it.

Usually anytime she went and mentioned shopping it'd get a customary roll of his eyes that had him on guard against any questions about a lift for her and her friends. Today he looked a might interested, his eyes trailing down to her hamper to get snared by the trap she had laid. Hooking the hem of his shirt with a finger, bras and panties tumbled off of it while one clung tight with all the static cling left over from a tumble in the dryer.

"Lemme get that for ya Sugah." Marie said sounding as apologetic as she could, tossing it with the rest as she struggled against her smile.

"Why don't ya keep it." Logan grunted, tossing the shirt back with the rest of her laundry.

"Mmm, new nightie." Marie purred.

To see Logan's eyes go dark and deep, his nostrils flaring with a chuff of breath that had always been for someone else, the women who could pique his interest at the bars those nights she'd gone with him for a ride, Marie felt her heart skip a beat. She had to fight every urge not to find some excuse for an innocent touch, because her reasons were far from innocent. She wanted to take him in, to feel whatever it was he felt for her in that moment, to glimpse whatever lay beyond his eyes with how he looked at her.

"I gotta go." Stammering out an excuse that she just wanted to give his shirt back, she couldn't look back down the hall as she briskly walked back to her room.

But she knew one thing for sure, he was still standing there at his door half naked in just a pair of shorts, a cold sweat running down his back for how long she'd darkened it. Reaching for the knob, her cheeks burned out of new embarrassment realizing her mistake, she still had his glass in hand. Pressing her brow to her door, she found a smile in one little truth, she didn't have to go worrying about giving the glass back. She just had to make sure to remember it the next time she did dishes.

"It's just dancing." Marie muttered as if it was her mantra, but in her heart she knew it was a lie.

Dancing was just an excuse, a fancy dinner only a reason to get dressed up. It was a date, as sure as she'd seen the lust in his eyes only moments ago, he damn well saw through her lies and fibs she'd told herself. She needed to know she wasn't imagining things when she thought about that throaty growl from his first night back, that she wasn't reading too much into Logan being Logan.

"I shoulda told them twenty." Marie muttered, tossing her laundry out on her bed before stalking off for a cold shower.

And all throughout it all she could wonder was, what was Logan up to now that they had a bit of safe distance between them again? Her mind painted an inappropriate picture of him sweaty again, hearing that chuff of breath roused once more for a very different reason. The water just wouldn't run cold enough, so she cranked it hot and exorcised her demons in the only way she could, what did it matter if she was already late anyway?

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"C'mon mutt, we're goin' for a walk."

"Just remember to bring him back with a full tank!" Jubilee called out.

Logan had Wolvie at walk, but the whistle told who the Big Dog was and it sure as hell wasn't her pup. Hearing an about face that had Jubilee wondering if Logan had forgotten something, he looked squarely between her and Clarice as they considered what they were gonna wear shopping.

"Put a damn shirt on wouldja?" Logan growled.

"Uh? I got bikinis that cover less than this y'know right?" Jubilee said with in a huff.

"You shouldn't." Chewing on his cigar as if it was rolled in jerky, Logan spouted a few choice curses as he stalking off with the patter of doggy paws following him down the hall.

Shrugging at Clarice while doing her best impersonation of a perplexed Logan, Jubilee had them both laughing now that it was safe to breath again.

"And the bugs back up his butt." Jubilee mumbled, snagging a shirt from the few that were laid out over her bed so Clarice could give her opinion which was a thumbs down.

"What's wrong with this one?" She had to know what fault Clarice found with the shirt in question.

"Nothing, I just want to borrow it."

"My sister from another Mister! High Five! Okay, how about this one? Good? Sweet."

Picking out accessories in belts and the cheap costume jewellery they both loved, their early friendship had been forged out of complimenting colours. Jubilee's yellow seemed less loud with Clarice around, while Clarice found a sense of safety in not being the centre of attention for once with how Jubilee tended to draw the spotlight.

"Sorry I'm late!" Marie gasped, jogging into the room with her purse and phone.

"You changed."

"So?" Marie said shortly.

"Nothing, just noticed ya changed is all."

"Do you know why Logan's grumpy?" Clarice let her curiosity show in her vivid jade eyes.

"Logan's grumpy?" Marie had played enough poker that she knew she'd shown her hand with how curious she herself sounded.

"Hella grumpy, like put a shirt on dammit grumpy. And I'm all like, I got bikinis that cover less than this. Anyway, he stormed off for a walk with Wolvie which means I'm officially free to go shopping now that I got my babysitter."

"You didn't have a shirt on?" Marie felt a pang of jealousy she wasn't accustomed to when held against the relationship Jubilee had with Logan.

"Clarice didn't either and I don't see her getting the third degree here." Jubilee grumbled, earning herself a smack from Blink.

Rubbing her eyes at realizing she was getting a dose of Karma for riling Logan up, Marie at least had her answer of how he was dealing with it. It didn't paint quite the picture she had imagined in the heat of the moment, but it was still cute to picture him blowing off steam taking Wolvie for a walk.

"Alright, alright. Just keep 'em on now that ya got 'em on. Lets get this show on the road!"

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"Why do I get the feeling you learned your lesson already? Fool me once eh?"

Logan couldn't fake the mutt out, try as he might Wolvie sat coiled like a spring just waiting to burst. Throwing a stick that had the dog off like a shot, he got back to enjoying his cigar while the pup pranced back for the next round.

Summer was coming and that meant classes were bound to be over soon enough, of course there were always a few slackers or just those kids that needed a helping hand. Admiring the trees for the green boughs that lent shade to his walk, the breeze told that he wasn't alone in enjoying the rambling estate of the Xavier's.

A brush to his mind, soft and gentle, asked him if he wanted company. Looking down into the expectant eyes at his feet, he gave his answer and waited out her coming. She wasn't alone and he knew it, Scott always was a Brut man.

"Jeannie, Scooter." Logan greeted from his crouched place, wrestling with Wolvie for control of the stick.

"Wolvie, Wolvie." Scott didn't try to hide his smirk, he wore it proudly.

"How long you been holding onto that one bub?"

"Since the day we picked him up."

Something in Scott's scent said that day hadn't been exactly a puppy in a basket with a bow. As curious as he was to find out the story in the stink of a painful memory, Logan let that dog lie, that was a conversation for a little lady he owed a bit of an apology to. Grimacing out of how slick with drool the stick was, he couldn't throw it far enough that it wouldn't be back in short order.

Yet to his surprise, Logan didn't find the pup at his feet when Wolvie came back with his chewed out stick. Scott was his new buddy, going so far as to drop the stick at his feet to encourage him to play. So it was a game of fetch was played between the three of them, walking along with laughter roused from the dogs antics. All until gruff barking told of Wolvie finding something more lively than the stick.

"I'll get him." Scott offered before taking off after the wayward pup.

Chuckling and hoping whatever Wolvie was chasing after was faster or just more cunning than the pup, Logan found himself letting go of a content sigh. Habits were a hard thing to break, running when things got complicated had always been his knee jerk reaction, so run he did when got to imagining Marie in a couple of things from her hamper. His shirt hadn't been anywhere in that thought, not until she made mention of it as a nightie.

"Logan?" Like a cold shower, he remembered Jean wasn't exactly the company for thoughts like that.

"Ah hell, just tell me I wasn't projecting." Logan muttered.

He hadn't expected her to laugh, in fact she was smiling in a way that eased away the twisted knot from his stomach. Jean was a lady in every meaning of the word, in two lives now he knew the moment he'd fallen in love with her.

"Here." Jean offered her hand like a kid with a surprise might, that or just maybe someone with a biscuit for his namesake.

He didn't have to do a trick for it though, finding a book of matches in his hand that looked like they were from an upscale restaurant rather than a cheap bar. Turning it over twice, he caught her eye for a question asked in an arched eyebrow.

"There's a reservation this Friday at Eight for a Mister Logan and his guest. Be sure to show her a good time, and Logan?" Jean paused, closing her eyes with a weary breath as she wrestled with conscience, "No kissing if there's no spark."

It was a warning he'd take to heart, he didn't have anything to say in his defence which was fine with Scott trampling back with Wolvie in his arms. Stealing a glance at Jean, all he needed to see to know a spark when he saw one was in how she looked after her husband. It was love, and painful as it was to admit for how long he'd carried that torch, he'd never seen it in Jeannie's eyes, not for him.

There had been affection and friendship and a thousand other emotions, but that one had never been for him. Finding their eyes meeting for one fleeting moment, in hers he could see his on affection reflected, learning to love her anew in the thousand ways but the one that would never be between them.

Just being friends was fine, friends who worried after the other, and no matter how desperate he ever was for a light...that match book was a token too important to strike up.

"Thanks Jean." Logan whispered, ambling up after Scott to relieve him of the happy mutt panting in his face.

Leaving them to their walk, Wolvie looked as ready as him to head back to the school for a drink. Eyeing the mud that marred the dogs coat, Logan figured out that one crack Jubilee had made hadn't been a joke after all.

"I ain't even risking finding out you can spell, but yer gonna hate me once we get back bub."

Oblivious to the bath that awaited him, Wolvie jogged along with his tongue lolling out bright pink for all to see.

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	7. Chapter 7

Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made from this work.

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It was the classic little black dress that she'd been introduced to as a child, as a girl who wondered why boys had to be so dense while men were a taboo until she was older. It was an excuse to wear opera gloves once more if just so she could channel her own inner Hepburn. It was perfect, pricy, and cost her damn near every last dime, nickle and quarter she had to her name until payday.

Marie couldn't show it to Jubilee for one reason and one reason alone, because the she'd know it wasn't just dancing. As much as the girl was known to be a gossip, she could keep a secret when it counted. Clarice, a troublemaker in her own right at times, was still a shy girl at heart and wouldn't risk hurting anyone with a slip of the tongue, so Marie was happy to go shopping with her knowing she'd keep it a secret.

"It's beautiful!" Clarice gasped.

"I'm glad Jean's handy with a needle, I just need one favour from you." Marie couldn't risk a custom fitting, which of course had puzzled the lady at the boutique who swore she had plenty of room in her bookings.

Taking a trip to the washroom together, they weren't so far away from the school that Clarice couldn't spirit something away if she just knew where she was going. Purple light bathed the bathroom and soon the only evidence that it wasn't just dancing was safe and secure back in her room, swearing Clarice to silence with a finger pressed to her own lips.

"Kitty owes me forty bucks."

"Why?" Marie had her suspicions, but it begged the question anyway.

Standing on her tiptoes, Clarice leaned in for a chaste kiss to her cheek, everything said in that one little spark that stole away surface thoughts, emotions, and brought a flush of power that wasn't her own. Marie didn't know what to say, she hadn't ever seen Logan as anything other than a friend until the other night, was she blind to her own heart?

Or was it just a happy coincidence that lined up with the silly thoughts of young ladies reading into meaningless things. Whatever the case might be, Clarice would be forty bucks richer once her secret was a secret no more. Taking their seats to find drinks waiting for them, blessedly Jubilee had business of her own that kept her busy. Dress shopping with Clarice had been a treat that saw them both with something to wear, though for Clarice it had been a lovely green dress picked straight off the rack.

The restaurant they now found themselves at had been a mainstay of Westchester for years, the decor trapped in the Eighties sense of sophisticated right along with the menu. The sign outside said _Fine Dining_ in a flowery script, but everything inside was just fine. That they were still filling seats and the reservation book meant they were doing something right, this generation and the last, a family restaurant with its history told on the walls in local commerce awards and framed newspaper articles.

"Mommy's back!" Jubilee cheered, the brass bell at the door heralding her arrival.

"Who's the hell's the father? You haven't even had a boyfriend yet." Marie teased.

"Just call me a single mom then, Wolvie's my baby." Jubilee huffed, setting down a few shopping bags from the local pet store.

"He's your pet." Clarice said as she joined on in the teasing.

"I feed him, I bathe him, and he keeps me up at night. He's my baby." Jubilee listed her points by counting fingers.

"She does have to find a babysitter before she can go out these days." Clarice conceded, having been a willing babysitter herself.

"I'm just glad he's adopted." Marie couldn't resist even if it earned her one of those fingers in particular flipped off in her direction.

A waitress not much younger than them greeted them again, having been told earlier they were waiting on someone before ordering. Menus were handed out in the usual routine of checking to see if anything new had actually been added. Old favourites were picked after finding there were some comforting constants in life, like how they could count on the cooks in the kitchen to make everything perfect while they chatted up the wait staff.

"Where's your stuff?" Jubilee asked, noisily slurping at her shake.

Mouthing a silent _Home_ with a look to the other patrons of the restaurant, Marie gave a pointed look to Clarice that said how. It was a good fib to stifle any further questions from Jubilee, the girl could be a real snoop when she wanted to be.

"Ah shit." Marie muttered as their three phones started vibrating.

That all three of them were getting a text meant it was a little extra circular work, knowing that at least one of them would reply rather than bear a guilty heart at pretending they didn't get it.

"Oh, it's just a pick up. Ooo, now I'm interested. Staff not students, two of them." Jubilee scrolled along through the text Scott had sent.

"James and Bishop?" Clarice read aloud, sounding interested herself.

"No pictures, lame. I hate holding up signs." Jubilee grumbled, sending off a reply that was all thumbs as she took another sip of her shake.

"At least we got time ta enjoy ourselves, of course you know what this means right?" Marie added, her smile leading them on.

"Woo, writing off the gas as a company expense! I love road trips on somebody else's dime."

As much as leather uniforms, grading exams and weekly hours clocked in at the _Teachers Gym_ , there was a credit card they all carried that said they weren't students anymore. It was a responsibility as much as anything else, one they would never think to abuse however tempting it might be. But that didn't mean they couldn't treat the new arrivals to coffee and a bite to eat after their flight, a thought they all shared peeking at another from across the table.

"Might need a few things, could be like that guy Logan hated, ya know, came in with just the shirt on his back." Jubilee mused.

"Oh gawd Logan despised Remy!" Marie laughed.

"What ever happened to him?" Clarice stabbed at her soda, sinking ice cubs with the tip of her straw, lost to memories of the slick charmer.

"Something tells me only Ro knows, all I know is he just up and left one day before sun up." Remembering that foggy morning, the last Jubilee ever saw of him were the taillights of his bike, listening out on the front steps until only birdcall could be heard.

Sharing a sigh between them, laughter burst forth that fell to a fit of giggles realizing they'd all been caught up in Remy's spell as much as any other girls at the school, them and a few ladies. Eating and sharing stories of the infamous Gambit, the tip they left behind was their gas money to top up the tank on the way home. They wouldn't need the cash now, paying it forward to the waitress with a word to buy the cook staff a round once quitting time came.

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"Dibs on the cute one." Clarice whispered behind her latte.

"That's fine as long as I get the grumpy one." Holding the sign high over her head in a burst of sudden enthusiasm, Jubilee jumped for attention from the pair that waded through the other travellers.

"I can't believe you two." Marie hissed, except that she could.

They fed off each other, Clarice growing bolder with Jubilee there to urge her on, and Jubilee having an audience in Clarice who saw no wrong in her crazy stunts. Rubbing her eyes and hoping tonight wouldn't be one of those nights, Marie tried to look suitably proper as the only mature face of the Charles Xavier School for Gifted Children present.

"James?"

The one Clarice had called cute raised his hand as if it were role call, leaving Bishop to be the grumpy one Jubilee had an eye for. They couldn't have been more different from another in appearance, James favouring utilitarian clothes with an emphasis on black. Where James was wiry and lithe, Bishop was built, a muscular man who wasted nothing in his movements. Sporting a great coat that cut an intimidating figure, the crowd had parted for Bishop while James fell into step behind him.

"So that makes you Bishop?" Marie said in greeting.

"It's been a long flight." Bishop offered in lieu of a greeting, his eyes trailing off to the crowd.

"Well then boys, if you got your stuff we can get headed back to the school any time yer ready."

Leading the way, Marie caught a glimpse of pack tactics played out in the reflection of a shop window that preyed on travellers having nowhere else to turn. Clarice fell in step with James while Jubilee flanked Bishop, the men seemingly oblivious to their fate.

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"Seems I remember coming here pretty often with you."

Not much had changed at the Roadhouse for all the years they'd been coming, maybe a couple of new brews were on tap and a string of hits joining the classics in the juke box, but for the most part it looked as much as it had the first time Logan walked through the doors.

"And I seem to recall the number of times I wound up in a fight because a lady being spoken for was a challenge, not a reason to quit flirting." Lining up his shot at the pool table, Hank offered a wink with his break.

The sharp crack of the cue set the balls rolling, daring around the table and bouncing from bunkers in their mad dash.

"Ya always did have a little beast in ya." Logan laughed, slugging back swig of beer while he waited for Hank to screw up.

"Back then you were very lucky I was able to keep the beast at bay, though I must admit it was a wonderful exercise in self control."

He could tell the tourists and people passing through by the looks they gave Hank as they walked through the door, it was old hat for the locals who came to wet their whistle and get away from their better half, gents and dames alike.

"I wonder what the fate of that shot would have been if we weren't so intently observing it." Hank mused as a striped ball hung at the edge of a pocket, a breath all it would have taken to sink it.

"All the shoulda, woulda, coulda ain't helping you now." Leaning in and calling his shot, Logan started his counterattack with an easy one, they had money on the table after all.

"Now just what is this I hear about you having a date planned for Friday." Hank remarked, timing his comment perfectly as so to ruin a shot.

Letting go of an aggravated sigh that bordered on a growl, Logan found his beer as Hank took the table. He'd expected Jean to find out, even expected Chuck to come on by for a game o' chess while whittling down a bottle of scotch, but Hank surprised him.

"Jubilation happened to strike up a conversation, she was curious about places someone might enjoy an evening out in the classical sense. Though it was Jean who asked a favour with securing a reservation." Sinking a ball, Hank met his gaze across the table.

"Lil bit o' dancing doesn't make it a date." Logan grunted.

"Of course not, and I wouldn't condemn you if it was more than just dancing. After all, we've had this conversation before, just never like this."

Not since he'd come back, fifty years worth of that other road travelled back in the blink of an eye. It was hard at first, thinking himself two different men wrestling for control. The road made it easier, getting away from it all and starting from scratch. When a tank of gas wasn't enough, it was time to visit all the old battlefields to chase his ghosts. These days he saw eye to eye with everything that had happened since the Seventies, but he was still a man out of time in one sense.

Everyone got older while he stayed the same, watching Scott, Jean and Ororo grow up before his eyes. Hank wasn't just whistling dixie, they'd had that conversation before alright, except instead of Marie it'd been about Jean until it became about Ororo. It was a friend looking out for his friends and making sure they weren't making a mistake, succumbing to the destructive urges of ones id as Hank had once phrased it.

"If there's something there, there's something there." Logan said, echoing the words he'd spoken before in those conversations that had long since played out.

A spark as Jean had called it, love like he'd never known except his gut called him a liar. There was still history lost to him, the elusive kind that came in a moment's sense of deja vu, everything that happened until he woke up with no idea who he was and a mess of metal inside that made him damn near indestructible. He'd loved once before, been loved, and it gave him what every man needed, just a bit of hope to cling to that he'd be so lucky again.

"It seems it's your turn Logan, why don't you figure out your shot while I go fetch us a couple more beers." Propping up his cue stick, Hank excused himself after finishing off his half empty glass.

Had he been watching the game instead of lost to thought then he might know if Hank had really gotten on the wrong side of Lady Luck herself, the shot seemed impossible to screw up, but there at a corner pocket sat the cue kissing up to the eight ball that just hadn't wanted to go in.

"Damned if I do, damned if I don't." Logan mused, seeing a shit shot waiting for him.

Shaking his head with a sigh, one good stomp sunk the ball while he put back his beer. Game over and digging out a ten for the next one, he found himself smiling back at the happy faces he found in his wallet. It was happening all over again, realizing they'd gone and grown up when he wasn't looking. At least this time they had a future to look forward to, safe from the mud and the blood and the ash of a war they had no business fighting in beyond the fact that the world had let them down.

"To the small victories." Drinking down his last swallow, it was time to put the past behind him where it belonged.

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	8. Chapter 8

Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made from this work.

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Sunday led into Monday as the day fell to the ticking hands of the clock, the last bell releasing them from their daily routine as it rang.

"Don't forget ta read that chapter I gave ya, otherwise ya ain't got no one to blame but yourself if I happen to go giving a pop quiz!" Marie shouted after her students.

Some groaned, others laughed, but mostly her warning was taken to heart with their thankful smiles. Waiting for the last to file out, it became the usual game of making sure nothing had been left behind that shouldn't, be it a forgotten phone or a sandwich that was meant as a snack. Righting a few chairs and adding a couple of pens to her collection, a pile of grading was to be her own homework for the evening between trying to keep ahead of the chapters she handed.

"Ya look like you could use a hand."

Straightening her desk just to keep her back to the door, Marie had to fight to keep her smile at bay. Logan let himself in, he wasn't one to go asking for an invitation except when it really mattered, like all the times he'd come knocking at her door so they could catch up after his travels. Sitting against the edge of her desk, the room was too warm with how Logan looked fresh from phys ed, dressed in jogging sweats and a muscle shirt soaked clean through to tease everything it should be covering.

But for how hot the room felt, a shiver ran down her back as she noticed how his eyes drank her in, dressed for class in a skirt and long sleeved blouse, stockings a necessity rather than because of any sense of style.

"I took a few tips from Ororo." Marie admitted with a nervous laugh.

"Kids seem that pay ya mind, maybe I should have a talk with Ro. Got a couple runnin' laps for a little horse play they got up ta."

"I always blamed that on you being restless, coming and goin' as ya pleased, coming back to new faces that wanted to see how they stacked against the Wolverine."

"Only one King o' the Cage around here." Logan said with a smirk, one she knew he saved for the kind of secrets they kept between them, curious for so many reasons with how he seemed to catch himself.

"Oh c'mon hun, don't leave me hanging." Marie teased, he'd piqued her interest and she wasn't gonna let him get off without fessing up.

"Before your time," Except his eyes said he was lying for the flicker of sadness she saw in them, "I used to make a few bucks here and there bare knuckle boxing."

"Oh now that's just all kinds of hot, ya don't gotta guess who I'd put my money on now do ya? No matter how big the sum bitch up against ya was, ain't no one that can mess with ya."

He'd always gone the distance for them, for her, no matter how hard he'd been knocked down he'd always get back up. Everyday she saw her reminder of just how far he'd go, running a finger through her skunk streak feeling self conscious because of it.

"Well, I better go drag in those hooligans and hit the showers."

And there it was, that something between them that made things awkward, nothing as easy as what Jubilee wrote off as Logan being moody and broody. Bitting her lip, she surrendered to her impulse and snatched his hand as he headed off to the door, pulling him in for a quick kiss to the cheek.

The effect was immediate, the stiffness in his shoulders bled away and his troubled eyes met hers with an inkling of something more in them, something she'd seen a thousand times but never for her, desire. Trapped between him and her desk holding hands, she wasn't alone in searching for some sign or reason in his eyes, he was just as lost as she was.

"Shower." Marie croaked, her voice hoarse because of how short her breath came after enjoying his musky scent that was so strong now with him so close.

"Hooligans." Logan grunted.

His eyes fell from hers but that only made things worse, feeling them follower her neck and plunge down past those few buttons that had been left undone on her blouse. Her hitched breath roused flared nostrils in him, everything she might have lied about given away in her sudden sweat and how her hairs stood on end.

"Don't forget Friday." Marie gasped, looking for any safe refuge from the moment in the promises made between them.

He fell back a step but still held her hand in his as if he couldn't let go, as if he'd never see her again if he were to. Running her thumb over his knuckles, it said everything she didn't need to anymore, that she always trusted him.

"Got it marked on my calendar." Logan whispered, meeting her gaze with his eyes turned as soft and gentle as his touch.

Her chest ached as she wondered what she would have done if his desire still clouded his eyes, if he hadn't taken that step back so she could breathe again.

"I better go have that shower." Logan said with another step away as he still held her hand.

"Yeah, I uh, I should go get changed too."

A flicker of the flame that nearly devoured them flashed in his eyes, turning her gaze away from it lest she feed it, helpless against it as a moth. The sigh they shared said it was time to let go, her hands feeling empty and cold as she gripped the edge of her desk just to steady herself, weak as her knees had suddenly gone.

"I'll catch ya later."

"Later, yep." Marie nodded, later would be better, much later.

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"Check."

Cracking open a beer for a sip while he considered just how he was going to get out of the predicament he was in, Logan took a moment to wonder just what was going through Charles's mind, the man was hard to read no matter how many years they had spent together.

"Might as well be mate bub, ya got me on the ropes." The few moves he saw were nothing more than a stalling action for the inevitable.

"Your mind isn't on the game Logan, usually you put up a better fight than this." Charles chuckled.

"I'm sure we both know just what I'm thinking about." A cold shower hadn't taken care of things, needing a distraction and hoping to find one in a beer and a game of Chess with Chuck.

"What two consenting adults do is none of my concern Logan."

And there it was, the bone stuck in his craw that kept nagging him, it'd been a long time since Marie had gone and blown out the candles for her Sweet Sixteen. She was a woman sure enough, looking mighty fine dressed for class like he'd never seen her before, all because she never had that chance the first go around.

"Why don't we change things up Logan, I'll get you out of check and you try and put me back in." Charles offered, turning the board around so he was on the seemingly losing end of their match.

"Why do I get the feeling I'm about to get schooled on the game?"

Three moves in and Logan found himself right back on the wrong end of check, going through the motions in a little tit for tat of taking pieces, never knowing which was offered up as bait for a trap.

"What would you do if you were in my shoes?"

"Well, I'd leave that tempting pawn alone." Charles said with a light laugh, pouring a fresh finger of Scotch now that his glass had gone dry.

"Prick." Logan growled, taking the pawn out of spite and against all the advice against it.

"Oh ho, there's the man I've come to know and trust."

That was the truth and he didn't need his nose to know it, everything in this life started in Washington after a dip in the Potomac. Ol' Jimmy Howlett had a good laugh once those pieces had fallen into place, a job offer in a bar from a fella he knew from somewhere not seeming so strange in hindsight.

"Careful bub, I got pictures of you with a comb over somewhere."

"Oh and just wouldn't Jubilation love to see you in the height of fashion circa the early Eighties?"

"That's low Chuck." And not because he was worried about the kind of gossip that girl could spread, no, because he still wasn't ready to open that can of worms.

The bottle of Scotch was passed in the only kind of apology that need be said between men who had watched the other's back for as long as they had.

"All in your own time Logan, but the longer you wait..."

The further they might drift apart, and that was something he didn't want, not from any of them. It was the same reason he kept second guessing himself every time he thought about Marie, he couldn't stand the thought of losing her again because he couldn't keep his head clear around her. But Friday was only a handful of days away and he'd made a promise he couldn't go backing out of, he was running out of time to get his head on straight by then.

"Ya think Lee would be up for a ride?" Logan asked, biting the easier of two bullets.

His Rogue had never had too many friends in her old life, too much hurt had happened to keep her guarded. But in this life she had plenty and it did him good to see, just maybe he could tip toe a few questions past the one they shared. For everyone who knew it was likely to be more than just dancing come Friday, Hank and Chuck alike were content to let him squirm like a worm on a hook, while Jean might just use him for bait if he went and made a mess of things.

"Just don't do anything I wouldn't Logan."

"Once upon a time I might o' thought that woulda been a pretty long list Chuck. Don't worry, I won't bring her back with anything worse than a hangover for first bell. Oh, and by the way, check."

Downing the last of his Scotch, Logan left the game as an excuse to enjoy a drink together and catch up. He had a little lady he owed much the same, but something told him a game of chess might not cut it for her.

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"Oh my god Clarice I just wanted him to take me on my desk." Marie whimpered, hiding her face in her pillow with how embarrassed she felt..among other things.

"This desk?" Clarice asked, pointing to where she was catching up on a little of her own grading, "Why? It'd break before he could get your bra off."

Glaring at Clarice from her pillow, Marie pursed her lips and wondered where the sweet, shy girl she knew and loved had run off to.

"My desk in class Clarice." Marie growled.

"Wow...during class?"

"After! God, Jubilee's been a bad influence on you!"

A shrug that said that was a debatable point was given in reply as Clarice finished off one test and added it to the pile. "Actually I think that was my inner Kitty."

"She's worse! She looks all sweet and innocent, but that girl is devious when she wants to be."

"...and she owes me forty bucks." Clarice murmured with a smug smile.

"Careful Clarice or I'll to tell the guy you're crushing on that you like him."

"He already knows, and he thinks I'm cute too."

"How!?"

This was news worth forgetting her own infatuation over Logan, especially if Jubilee hadn't heard about it yet with just how thick as thieves Clarice and her were.

"He's...superb in everyway, my words not his. Super everything, including his hearing."

"He heard you?!" Marie hissed.

"Yep, thinks I'm cute too, actually he thought I was cute at the airport. Once I caught a shower he thought I was beautiful."

It was often hard to tell when Clarice was blushing, but the dimples gave away the smile she struggled against right off the bat.

"What about the guy Lee had the hots for?"

"Why would I care if he thought I was cute?"

Giving Clarice the full on stink eye, Marie went the extra mile and threw her stuffed teddy at her. It was a snap decision made in too much haste given who Marie was throwing it at, proven as it smacked her square in her face instead of Clarice.

"Cheater." Marie should have known better than starting something with a girl who could open portals, but that was half the fun really.

"Why are you so worried about liking Logan?" Clarice asked wholly serious now.

"He's Logan! We're friends, we're not supposed to..." Marie began, trying to find any reason why they shouldn't like each other when it was so clearly obvious that he felt for her what she was so suddenly feeling for him.

"Make out on your desk?"

"You're not helping!" Clarice was supposed to be talking her down from the ledge, not telling her to jump.

"You want me to text Jubes and ask her opinion?"

"No!"

"Kitty?"

"Like I said, she's worse! But I'm starting to reconsider just who's worse out of the three of you actually."

The dimples were back and soon Clarice was smiling to herself as she finished off grading a few more assignments. Looking at her own stack which had been untouched this whole while, Marie picked one up but couldn't get past the name and date.

"Is it Friday yet?" Marie whined, flopping back down on her bed suddenly wishing she had taken Logan up on his offer for a dance the first night he'd been back.

"Now who's sounding like Jubilee?" Clarice teased.

"You really think it's okay?" Hardly more than a whisper, Marie flipped through the pages with unseeing eyes, everything just chicken scratches she had to decipher.

"That's between you and him to figure out, but at least you know he thinks you're cute."

"Logan ain't one for cute, he's one for sexy. Trust me."

Except that Marie would have to trust herself in knowing what that meant, that Logan saw her as someone he desired. It wasn't a crush like she'd had with Bobby, try as they might they could never get past the puppy love that had seen them through so many years. She never imagined Bobby taking her like she had longed for Logan to do when he'd trapped her between the door and her desk, fight or flight the only choice she had.

"If you're going for a walk I'm sure Wolvie would love to tag along."

"What makes you think I'm thinking about going for a walk?" Marie asked.

"The fact that you're looking at that assignment upside down?"

Pursing her lips in a disappointed moue, Marie set it back with the rest and admitted that she really did need to clear her head. Coffee and conversation hadn't helped, so maybe getting some fresh air would help.

"Fine, I'm goin' for a walk." At least it wouldn't be hard to find Wolvie, all she had to do was jingle his leash, or if that failed just open a slice of cheese and he'd come running.

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	9. Chapter 9

Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made from this work.  
  
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“Remember when I told ya to throw a damn shirt on?”  Logan muttered.  
  
“Uh huh, and you remember what I said about my bikinis right?”  Jubilee teased with a cocky grin.  
  
    Parking at the end of a row of bikes, the Roadhouse was lively for a Monday, a lifetime spent there saw the usual faces in the cars parked out on the gravel lot along with several bikes he knew almost as well as the owners.  
  
    Stretching out her kinks and stiffness from the road, Jubilee was dressed in a halter top and hip hugging jeans that had his handiwork out for all to see.  His knuckles itched at the sight, leaving him to shy away from the memories of how she got them, memories clouded with the stink of smoke and flames.  They were memories tangled up with the memories of his Rogue, except that there hadn’t been any X-men coming to save the day for him and Jubilee.  
  
    Heading on in with a thirst for something stronger than beer, he could tell the drifters for how their eyes lingered on his drinking buddy for the night, his own threatening growl echoed in a few burly regulars.  
  
“Alright kid, lemme see it.”  The bartender asked as Jubilee hopped up onto a stool, passing off her ID with an impish smile.  
  
    Playing a little bit of trivia by picking out her vitals as told on her fake ID, the bartender passed it back and took her order for a Bud.  Ordering up a whiskey taken neat and making it a double, Logan settled down on a stool beside her and dared anyone to try and take the one next to her with a glance around the bar.  
  
“He knows that I know that he knows, but he can’t prove it other than guessing right that I only come here with you, because if what he knew wasn’t what he knows then that would mean I’d be coming down here without you to order up a Bud, bub.”  Jubilee spattered off in a rapid fire whisper between herself and Logan.  
  
    Try as he might to hold onto his irritation over her choice of attire for a drink between friends, Logan had to smile at her while wondering if she hadn’t practised that.  
  
“You’re a real brat, ya know that right?”  
  
    Slugging back her beer with a chipmunk smile, her thirsty gasp complimented his own satisfied hiss as he enjoyed the burn of a good sipping whiskey.  
  
“So why don’t you tell me where ya found yer mutt?”  
  
“Scott almost ran him over.”  
  
    Choking down a sip that burned for all the wrong reasons, breathing liquid fire rather than enjoying it, memory told him that tact wasn’t a trait Lee had in spades.  
  
“So he really was a stray?”  
  
“He’s my rescue, no one came for him so I adopted him.”  For how cheerful she sounded, her eyes had tears hiding in them that finally fell to roll down her cheeks.  
  
    Guilt had a stink to it worse than a lie and Scott carried that guilt with him, it was a guilt he couldn’t let go that Logan knew too well himself, the kind that left a man wondering about all those happenstance circumstances that came down to luck to see him through.  Nightmares fed off all the questions of if only and what might have been if things hadn’t turned out like they had.  
  
“Looks like he found a good home.”  Logan said in little more than a whisper, downing the last of his whiskey and ordering up another.  
  
    Her sad smile said it hadn’t been easy at first, like any stray it took a while to learn to trust again and get used to thee square instead of whatever could be found thieving and scavenging.  Pulling her into a hug, like him she was just another stray that had found a home to call her own, his gut told him that much without taking a trip down to the smoke that lay like a haze over that painful memory.  
  
“Welcome back Wolvie.”  Jubilee whispered in the embrace, melting against him in a way that felt right.  
  
“Sorry kid, didn’t mean to give ya the cold shoulder.”  Logan muttered in apology.  
  
“S’oaky.”  
  
“Next rounds on me just the same.”  
  
“Ooo, time for a fancy beer then!”  Jubilee smiled brightly up at him, leaning in for a kiss to his cheek that was hardly more than a quick peck.  
  
    Following an urge from his second chance, Logan reached for one of the many places the little lady was ticklish, reducing her to a fit of giggles as she squirmed upon her stool.  
                                  
“Do that again and so help me I will punch you.”  Jubilee growled with mock anger beneath her furrowed brows, throwing up her balled fists in open threat.  
  
“Don’t start nothing ya can’t finish.”  Logan teased, daring her with a cocky grin.  
  
“This guy bothering you?”  
  
    From feisty to confused flat out in less than a second, Jubilee looked up at the guy who took to leaning against the bar where an empty stool sat.  Feeling a low, angry rumble roll from his chest, Logan could smell the lusty musk as easily as the cheap cologne the man wore.  
  
“You talking about you or him, cause tall, dark and hairy here is my drinking buddy bub.”  
  
“Look, I didn’t mean to offend.  Name’s Dave, how about I buy you a drink?  Then maybe you could tell me your name.”  
  
“No bueno, if ya didn’t want to offend you should have laid off whatever cheap ass cologne ya bathed in.  Besides, I already got a drink.”  Jubilee spat back, making a show of downing half her beer that had her delicate neck on display.  
  
“Wow, a real bitch ain’t ya?”  Dave said with a surprised laugh, staring down on her with dark eyes torn between irritation and clear arousal.  
  
“Raised by wolves, makes me fucking feral.”  
  
    Or a Wolverine as the case might be, a smart mouth like that was bound to get a kid in trouble unless she had something to back it up with.  As much as he wanted to step in, to prove to some pup sniffing around his turf just who the Alpha was around here, his gut told him Jubilee could play with the big dogs when they came around.  
  
“Well if it’s a good fucking you’re looking for...”  
  
“I’ll hit the ladies room and see who’s known for a good time.”  Jubilee interrupted quicker than Dave could offer.  
  
    Insulted and plenty angry, Dave looked from Jubilee to Logan and saw the threat of violence that laid in his cold, steely eyes.  
  
“So is that how you met your drinking buddy here?”  
  
    Laughter stirred at the bar from those watching the show as the nights entertainment, just as many watching for any first signs of a fight that just relieve their boredom or work out the demon too much drink put into them.  Most of the regulars called in orders just to be safe, putting a distance between them or heading out for a smoke.  
  
“What’s it take to get his dick up?  The little blue pill or just your lips wrapped...”  
  
    Cutting Dave off before he could spit any more filth, Logan laid him low with a punch that had him spitting blood and likely wondering what he was looking for on the floor.  Three men that had to be friends of Dave were on their feet and looking ready, peeling off their shirts to show off their time spent at the gym.  
  
“What the fuck man!?” Built like a linebacker, there were few men Logan had to look up to and this guy had to be pushing an easy six foot eight.  
  
    Shoved back from their fallen friend, Logan saw a fight on his hands in their eyes and knew his own were just as eager.  Lashing out with a punch that had the linebacker stumbling back, that reminder of a life lived differently screamed at him in the moments pain of bruised bones.  It was a pain he’d never known before, forged as he was to be unbreakable at the cost of everything he knew before Three Mile Island.  
  
    Ol’ Jimmy Howlett borrowed his eyes for a moment, looking back at the bar he saw Jubilee working an old hustle, calling odds and taking cash from anyone dumb enough to bet against the Wolverine.  Smirking as he looked back to the four he was up against, rolling his neck Logan figured he’d have to at least put on a good show.  
  
“Only limp dicks I see around here are you tiny pricks.”  
  
    Laughlin might be a long ways away, but tonight he was going to show the locals what it took to be the King of the Cage, even if he had to break a few of his own bones doing it.  
  
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“You tellin’ me ya really walked your ass back from the Roadhouse, where the hell’s your bike?”  
  
“Some sore losers slashed my tires.”  
  
“Well shit Sugah, guess I know for sure that the blood ain’t yours now.”  Marie laughed, snapping her book shut that had been keeping her company out on the front steps.  
  
“Someone got a lil tuckered out along the way, proved she wasn’t too old for a piggy back ride.”  Logan said of Jubilee who was still fast asleep.  
  
    Biting her lip, Marie dug for her phone and snapped a photo for her collection of sweet, silly and often times embarrassing moments of her friends.  Showing it off to Logan for his approval, a wink was his way of asking for a copy to join all the rest that littered his dresser.  
  
“I can’t help but picture that little trouble maker you introduced me to back when ya first brought me here.”  
  
“Told ya she’d warm up to ya, kid wasn’t used to sharin’ me with much other than for a few ladies.”  Logan said with a dismissive shrug.  
  
    Rubbing her eyes that had gone misty, Marie remembered those early days when Jubilee could be as catty as Kitty’s namesake.  It wasn’t until Logan had gone off to answer the call of the wild without them that a story came out about an orphan who ran into a surly, hard headed Canuck, sounding so much like her own meeting with the man that they found their common ground.  
  
    Stepping up to him to see just what a mess he’d made of his shirt, one button was missing while two looked to be having on very really by a thread.  The blood was already dry, a hell of a stain to try and get out, but the shirt looked good on him so she’d have to try.  
  
“Eyeing up another for your collection?”  Logan asked quietly for how close she was.  
  
“Seeing if it’s worth saving or if ya should just throw it with the rag pile for auto shop.”  Marie huffed, smiling to herself as she traced down the few buttons that held fast to hide his abs she suddenly couldn’t stop thinking about.  
  
“Sooner just leave it something to wear on a day when there’s some dirty work to be done than go rippin’ it to shreds.”  
  
    Toying with a button, all those dirty jobs came to mind, like tending the lawn that always needed cutting or chopping wood through the fall that always worked up a sweat long before the logs fell to the hearth come the winter.  Logan was a man that liked to keep his hands busy, and for all the rough work he took to they were always gentle, gentle enough to go giving a sleepy friend a piggy back ride when she got too tired of walking.  
  
“Well why don’t you let me have a crack at those blood stains first, lemme see what I can’t do.  Cause mending up a few buttons is kids play if I can get those stains out.”  Marie offered, running a thumb over one such stain as an excuse just to touch him.  
  
    He gave his thanks with a kiss to her head, just a little something sweet between them never got old, but tonight it worked up a blush that she would blame on the warm evening that promised a hot summer ahead.  
  
“Hate to cut this short, but I should go get someone tucked in.”  
  
    Holding the door for him and watching Logan head off up the stairs, Marie felt a warmth spread in all those new ways she never knew Logan to get her so hot and bothered about.  He’d always been just a friend, but watching him head up the stairs she couldn’t help but wonder what kind of a father he’d make, easily imagining him tucking in a wee tyke of his own with a bedtime story picked from his past.  
  
“Sweet dreams Sugah.” Marie whispered, having one of her own already to toy with until the twilight came before the dawn.  
  
    It was a night for warm milk just like her Momma used to make, with just a pinch of honey and spice in it to help send her off to sleep.  Humming a nursery rhyme her Daddy used to sing as he tucked her in, a bit of homesickness struck for all the years since she’d last thought about that life she’d left behind in Meridian.  
  
“Hush, little baby, don’t say a word,” Marie sang to herself as she headed off to the kitchen, “Daddy’s gonna buy you a mocking bird...”  
  
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	10. Chapter 10

Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made from this work.

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"I already gave you your cut!"

"And I got some tires to go replacing this time around kid, so cough it up."

Peeking around the corner, Marie saw Jubilee giving Logan her infamous stink eye before reaching into her jeans for a wad of crumpled bills.

"What the heck's goin' on here?" Marie asked, strolling up to the pair that had been raising a ruckus in the kitchen.

"Just getting a little compensation for my tires after our firecracker here went riling up that punk last night."

"Rile up? Like that took much, dude was just pissed Daddy's money didn't drop my panties for him. I mean I could tell you every store down on Fifth Avenue he shops at just by what he was wearing last night."

It wasn't hard to believe the girl had grown up in Beverly Hills once she got down to some shopping, she had a presence to her left the staff waiting on her like she was a celebrity. Raised in a family that was on the end of what most folk considered the poor end of the middle class, Marie couldn't even dare do more than window shop on her first trip to the Big Apple until Jubilee dragged her in damned near kicking and screaming as Kitty push her from behind.

"What's this I'm hearing about a cut then?" Guilty, thy name was Jubilation.

"Uh, I set 'em up, he knocks 'em down?" Jubilee offered a huge fake grin usually reserved for moments when she figured she was going to get in some kind of trouble.

"Ya mean you're hustling them? This that King o' the Cage stuff ya were talking about hun?"

Now even Jubilee looked curious leaving Marie to think it must have been even before her time too, though from the sounds of things they had a history of gambling on bar brawls given how easy they had been bickering over the purse.

"I could use a hand collecting my bike if you're not doing anything." Logan offered, counting out the cash.

With classes over, a late afternoon drive was a tempting offer, especially if it was going to be in that old beat to hell pick up he used as a project car for auto shop, it reminded her so much the one he sold back up in Alaska.

"Let me just go get my purse." Marie purred, the prospect of snagging a beer down at the Roadhouse too tempting to pass up.

She found him out front enjoying a smoke up against the fender of the truck, there were a few new spots of primer here and there that hinted at some new body work having been done. Logan wasn't against taking a hammer to the old truck if it meant the kids could practice. Climbing up on the running boards, Marie peeked in to see if any more work had been done on it since she'd last gone for a drive.

"New bench seat?"

"New to me, got it from the wreckers." Logan said as he climbed in, turning the stubborn old engine over with a bit of gas to coax it along.

Holding tight for a fun little trip down the drive, a childhood spent growing up around field trucks had her knowing how to drive stick long before she could go telling who had the right of way on the road. Back then it'd been all about riding on the tailgate or running boards with the breeze in her hair, screaming her head off every time they found a gopher hole or dipped into a tractor rut lost in the tall grass.

"Any chance we could take the long way down?" Marie asked as she climbed on in.

"Got a full tank for what that's worth with the way this ol' girl guzzles it down."

Taking every back road they knew would still get them where they were going, each hill was an excuse for Logan to floor it just to hear her scream louder than she did riding a roller coaster at the county fair. The green boughs above were speckled in diamonds as the sun sparkled beyond their leafy branches, winding their way through the woodlands dotted by grassy fields that swayed to the willowy breeze.

It was a route she loved, she knew it like the back of her hand after learning how to drive proper like years ago with Logan, even if he spent most of those lessons dozing in the passenger seat, the ultimate sign of trust in her books.

"Oh that's just wrong." Marie growled as they pulled up out front of the Roadhouse.

Logan's Harley sat looking sad with two flats, looked lonely without the stately line of bikes that usually lined up out front of the bar. Pulling up beside it, Logan climbed out to go have a rummage in the bed of the truck, digging out a sturdy plank of wood to use as a ramp.

"Where ya got your ratchet straps babe?" Marie asked, if there was one thing she knew it was that they never stayed in one place for long.

"Check behind the seat." Logan shouted as he dropped the tailgate.

Finding them in a tangled mess, that was something that pissed her off every time, wondering just who the culprit was that couldn't put things back as they found them.

"On three." Between a mess of grunting, huffed breath and every cuss word she knew, Marie helped him push his bike up onto the truck.

"I hope ya kicked the shit outta the sorry sonovabitch coward that did this." Catching her breath holding the bike steady for Logan as he strapped it down, Marie was going to have to ask Jubilee for a blow by blow recount once she got back to the school.

Riding in the back for a trip around the gravel lot, Logan backed up under a shade tree with a few of the regulars that could always be found enjoying a beer and a bite after a days work. This was the Roadhouse she knew, shying away from late night trips because of how crowded the joint got, because of how rowdy some folk could get.

"Need a hand?" Logan offered.

His was warm in her grasp, steadying herself before jumping down from her perch up on the side of the truck. Stumbling forward, she felt into his arms that readily caught her, held her as he found her footing. Stealing a peek at him from beneath her bangs, he didn't look in a hurry so she enjoyed herself, wondered what it would feel like to have his hands trial down her back, his thumbs hitch in the hem of her jeans as they danced a slow dance fit for a country dance hall.

"Got enough in your pocket to buy a gal a beer?" Marie asked, doing a different kind of two step dancing away from him.

"Maybe, I might even have enough for a bite."

Fine dining the Roadhouse wasn't, but it served up a flame-grilled menu where their idea of a salad was the mushroom, peppers, onions and tomatoes found in their kabobs. Taking a stroll on in and up to the bar, classic rock played in the background, the crack of billiard balls echoing in between shots as a pair of gents played over who would pick up the cost of a pitcher.

"Why don't ya go order for us, I gotta hit the head."

Thinking ahead to her birthday just weeks away, never again would she have to worry about getting called out. Ordering up a couple of lagers and a plate of wings, Logan came back in time for a toast to nothing between friends, finding a reason to get out of the house to pick up his bike.

"What?" Logan asked in a muttered breath.

He could always tell when she had something on her mind, tell her mood from the sag of her shoulders or from how she swayed on the barstool with a curious glint to her eyes.

"Just thinking." Marie teased, wondering which question to lead with.

"Thought I smelt something burning, figured it was the days special."

"Fine, tell me about the King of the Cage."

And just like how he could always tell when she had something on her mind, Marie could always tell when Logan would rather not think about some part of his past. It was all there in how he avoided her gaze, in how he rubbed the flesh between his knuckles like he was saying a prayer to the man upstairs, making a bargain for a favour if he'd just be a better man after a lifetime of sin.

"Sorry..." It knocked the breath out of her, confessing her apology in a dry whisper that left her thirsty for her beer.

"Don't be, was just one of those times in my life I didn't have much to live for, so I took it out on anyone who stepped into the cage. Then a lil lady helped me get back on the straight and narrow, helped me find something to live for."

"What was she like?" Every story was different, but it always came down to a girl like herself who could look past his gruff, grumpy attitude and see him for who he was.

"Eh, she could be stubborn as a mule when she wanted to be. Kept most people at arms length because she'd been hurt once, it made her afraid to get hurt again. But that didn't stop her from making friends, from knowing how to laugh."

"Sounds like someone I know." Marie teased with a sweet smile, giving his stool a kick as the urge struck her.

"I was thinkin' the same thing."

That could have described any of Logan's girls, herself included. Yet his eyes said exactly who he was thinking of and she blushed because of it, biting her lip out of her embarrassment of being held up against someone who clearly saved his life once. She knew how that went, because he'd saved her, gave her a second chance at something better than a life spent running.

Sitting there with just the music playing as they waited on their wings, it wasn't the easy quiet she normally enjoyed with him, she had too much on her mind than was good for her. The more she thought about Friday, the more she worried about it. Here they were at a bar and they'd already run out of things to say, what would it be like when it was more than just a plate of wings they were waiting on?

Squeaking in surprise as Logan took her hand in his and feeling a right idiot for it, Marie managed to smile at his smirk as she wondered at his unspoken question, but then she heard it playing in the background. It wasn't any song in particular, just the kind of song she'd grown up listening to, a bit of old country that always got couples up for a slow dance. Heading north, she always turned them up as they came on the radio, something Logan got to doing after a while that always made her smile.

"Feel like getting some practice in?" Logan offered, slipping from his stool as he held her hand.

If she felt like a right idiot before, now she felt as shy as any school girl getting asked out to the floor by her a boy she was sweet on. Hugging him close as they danced, swaying to and fro as they wandered around the bar, one song led to another and a third before their luck ran out and their dance card was full.

Standing there with a soundtrack of classic rock, she looked up into his eyes to see him lost in hers, drifting closer together by forces greater than them. His breath tickled her nose, roused a giggle from her that he silenced as their lips met. It wasn't the passionate collision of people driven desperate by their longing, it was just a sweet kiss she found her way into following his lead.

"Wow..." Marie gasped as they parted, feeling boneless as he held her near to him.

Hovering there breathless and on the verge of another, Marie cast off the last of her doubts, all it took was a look into his eyes to let go of them. Patient and kind and willing to take thing slow, if this wasn't love then she'd never know love. Their next kiss lasted longer, found more passion as they flew as close to the sun as they dared risk, pulling away as she felt for herself just what she did to him as her greedy flesh drank him in.

By the time they found their way back to the bar their wings were up, picking them apart with all the finger licking that went with it. She didn't have much to say and neither did he, but it was easy between them again because there was no doubt now that it wasn't just dancing for them come Friday. But sitting there with a fresh beer, she listened to the music in the background, wondering if another song wouldn't come to that would let them get a little bit more practice in before their date.

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	11. Chapter 11

Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made from this work.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

"So like, did Roguey drag you off to a movie or something while you guys were in town?"

Logan should have known the only reason Jubilee had offered to help him with his bike was so she could interrogate him about something.

"Nope, just hit up the Roadhouse for a couple o' suds and a plate of wings, then headed on in to go get these tires."

"Okay, weird. She meet someone there?"

Growling at the thought of some useless dick even thinking about trying to put the moves on Marie, Logan worked his irritation out on a lug nut.

"You going somewhere with this kid?"

"Well, it's just that she was all spaced out and smiling like she always does after watching one of her girly movies." Sitting on a stool passing tools, Jubilee cupped her chin in hand as she stared at Logan working away.

Cursing as his wrench slipped, Logan kissed his bloodied knuckle to check the damage that was already healing before his eyes. Tomboy she could be at times, Jubilee shared his opinion on romance movies, always happy to tag along with him to a movie that promised bullets, blood and babes (or in her case, the ripped lead, the less shirt the better). But she could be pretty damned observant when she wanted to be, which wasn't doing him any favours trying to keep what happened at the Roadhouse between just him and Marie.

"Ain't got a clue, maybe she was reading one of her Harlequins on her phone."

Shit, now she was staring at him like she did when she tried to figure out if he was lying. Checking his chain, it was time to play dirty and there was nothing dirtier than grease. Poking her in the nose, tomboy or not, memory told him she hated getting dirty, the blood and sweat of her skater girl hobby not included.

"Oh fuck you Logan, you know this shit doesn't come off!" Jubilee growled, balling her fist for a punch that had heat to it.

"If ya don't wanna get dirty, stay outta the garage." Logan muttered, wiping his hand on a rag so he could get back to work.

"Man, just tell me to get lost if you wanna work on your bike alone." Rubbing her dirty nose against the back of his shirt, it only made matters worse for her.

"Ya got some right..." Logan lied, hovering a finger that had her going nearly cross-eyed, "There."

Flicking her forehead, her fists were balled and ready for a fight she had no chance of winning, but she was a stubborn one alright. She didn't pull her punches either, she didn't have to with him, foggy memories surfacing of time spent down in the gym teaching her how to hurt someone without hurting herself. Jumping to his feet, he had an advantage on her in height and weight, but she made up for it with a nimble dance to her step.

"You were looking pretty mellow yourself there Logan, too mellow for a guy who just came back from buying new tires he didn't need."

Blocking her punches with his open hands, they fell into an easy routine with Jubilee sneaking in a body shot now and again.

"What can I say? Was a good day for a drive." Spending most of it with Marie curled up across the bench seat using his shoulder as a pillow, only as they got closer to the school had she crawled back to her side, lost to the scenery of the road with her hand out the window riding the wind.

"Something's up, I don't know what yet, but I'll find out one way or another." Jubilee swore, dropping her fists now that their dance was over, long live the King of the Cage.

"Hit the shower kid."

Flipping him off as she turned on her heel, she made a show of stomping off in an exaggerated stride. Smirking after her, she could have been thirteen all over again for how easy it was to imagine her in denim cut offs and a loud pink shirt he could pick out of a crowd at a mile.

Hitting up a grease stained sink to clean his hands, photos of project cars and the kids who lent a hand to rebuild them hung against the cinder block wall by weathered tape. One drew his eye among the rest, Marie in her riding leathers sitting on a Honda, Scott and himself looking smug for the camera having made a gear head out of her in the end.

"I think I got an idea for our second date Darling." Putting a bit of wear on new rubber with her holding tight to him was a fine idea that roused a throaty growl as he imagined her legs nestled against his, the feel of her chest at his back something to be looked forward to.

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"We kissed!"

"I think I'd remember that." Clarice mumbled from her bed where she laid reading a blog she was following.

"Brat." Marie growled, opening the door for a peek out in the hall to make sure it was still empty, "Logan and me, at the bar."

That caught Clarice's elfin ear, or at least she looked up from her tablet to give the conversation her full attention. Running up to the bed, Marie knelt down giddy to tell someone about everything that had happened down at the Roadhouse.

"We danced, just some slow dancing to some old country that had been playing. Practice for Friday he said"

"That's horrible, that dress isn't made for country, it's made for mellow jazz or some bluesy rock."

Glaring at Clarice, Marie was tempted to smack her, but she could tell that her friend was just pulling her leg as her feigned disinterest cracked with a smile. Tackling her in a hug, Marie curled up on the bed with her, whispering about just what it was like to kiss Logan, to feel his hands on her that left her still tingling at the thought.

"I have my own confession then, since there was no room on the couch earlier, James let me sit on his lap." Blushing purple against her lilac skin, Clarice rolled to her back lost to the memory of the feel of his arms wrapped around her.

"How risque." Marie teased, tickling Clarice just to hear her squeal in laughter.

"I may have stolen a page from your book, we're going out Friday and I also may or may not have invited Jubilee and Bishop, but they don't know yet."

"Trying to make it a double date?" Usually it was Kitty trying to set couples up, but with how busy she was hitting the books for Oxford, everyone had been saved from her meddling.

"I'm just trying to get those two alone together so they can talk. Bishop's been logging crazy time down in the Danger Room since he got here."

That would explain why Marie hadn't seen hide nor hair of him other than around dinner time, and even then he took his plate to go.

"I'm glad it's you doing this, Kitty would come up with some stupid reason for Jubilee to go check up on Bishop and then lock them in."

"You say that like it's not my Plan B already, and I don't even have to come up with some lame excuse for Jubilee to go down. I'd just port her."

"Bad Clarice, you know porting people without their permission is a no no." Marie mock scolded, finding her inner Scott to monologue about proper powers usages.

Breaking out into laughter thinking of all the times they had broken those very rules, the best they ever served detention for had been when one day when she had borrowed Clarice's power for an impromptu game of pong with Jubilee as their unwitting volunteer for a ball. Sitting in the hall, it had been like the classic cartoon skit watching Jubilee pop out of rooms that weren't hers looking confused.

"So just where are you and James going?"

"Somewhere I don't have to wear make up."

For how she tried to hide it, Clarice was nervous to admit it and Marie knew why, there weren't many places that drew openly mutant crowds. It was an underground scene trying to get accepted in the mainstream, learning from its own mistakes every time a club got shut down. The biggest problem was the so called Flatscans, the pro-mutant vulgar for regular humans who came looking for a fight.

"Be careful." Marie cooed as she hugged Clarice, gently rubbing her side as she played the big sister she always felt like.

"Any trouble comes and I'll run, nobody can clear a club like me."

Kissing Clarice upon the top of her head, it was nice to have friends smaller than her who could play baby sister to her, Kitty, Clarice and Jubilee alike. It always drove Kitty crazy though, being the eldest of them all.

"Call me if you're gonna be late, hell, just call me anyway. I'm gonna be worrying about you idjits."

"Yes mom." Clarice groaned, but she raised her pinky for a promise between them, "Just make sure you enjoy your date now, ya hear?"

"I'm sure Logan will make impossible for me not to, god I can't wait to see his face when I get to get dressed up. Ah shit, that reminds me, I need to get Jean to take care of a fitting for me!"

"I'll distract Jubes for you, maybe I go tell her she's coming with me Friday."

Ghosting kisses, Marie gladly took the portal Clarice offered her as a sneaky way to get to her room. There was one other person she didn't need seeing her dress before she was ready, and that was Logan, everything had to be perfect before he could see it.

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	12. Chapter 12

Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made from this work.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

"Now don't go crying."

Dabbing at her eyes lest she ruin her makeup, Marie blinked away in a flutter of lashes as she tried to find her breath. She could hardly recognize herself for the woman who stared back from the looking glass.

"You look like yer cryin' enough for the both of us." Marie teased, gently dabbing her eyes again to dry the last of her tears.

"You caught me daydreaming." Jean laughed, snatching a tissue to dry her own eyes.

Leaving Jean to her dreams, Marie admired herself in the mirror, giddy and giggling as she wondered what Logan's reaction would be. Would he be speechless, or would she see the beast behind his eyes hungering for her? Flushed with sudden embarrassment, her own daydreams left her blushing as she noticed knowing eyes looking back at her from the vanity.

"I know, I know, I'm projecting." Marie moaned, feeling sixteen all over again.

"I suppose it's only fair that I share then." Jean said softly, her idle hands busying themselves with brushing Marie's hair.

"So?"

"I was thinking ahead to the day I might find myself dressing my own daughter for her first date."

Stunned, Marie felt herself tumbling back to a day when it had been Jean sitting at this very vanity, primped and preened for her wedding. Even now with the vows long since sworn, the cake cut and the last dance had, the younger girls often asked Jean to see her ring. Admiring it herself, Marie found herself taken into a hug that hurt for how warm it felt, set her lip trembling as fresh tears threatened her make up.

"Ah, ah. There now, no more crying." Jean cooed, gently brushing away the silly tears.

"Got any names picked?" Marie asked, thinking again of the day Jean dreamed of.

"Rachel for our daughter, and Nathan for our son." Spoken with absolute conviction, Marie smiled as she thought of the honeymoon Missus Scott Summers was still owed.

"I can't wait to meet them someday."

"Thank you, but I hope to have had a few anniversaries before then. At least I have plenty of volunteers for any of my maternal urges, speaking of which..."

Reaching into her jewellery box, Jean dangled a diamond solitaire pendant from her finger. The white gold chain was cold against Marie's neck, shivering as she felt the gentle brush of fingers doing up the clasp.

"That's what this dress was missing, something from Tiffany's."

"It's so beautiful, I won't let anything happen to it..."

"Good, because it's up to Logan to give you your next, though I'm pleased I could give you this one."

Shocked, Marie spun in her seat to stare up at Jean, only to see those very maternal urges she had spoken of but a few moments before. Teasing and toying with Marie's hair, brushing away a stray lock, Jean tenderly stroked her cheek as a tear fell down her own.

"It feels like yesterday he brought you here, brought you home. We'll never give up on our promise to you, we'll help you find control. Until then, well, you always did look wonderful leaving so much to the imagination, a classical beauty if there ever was one."

Ghosting kisses, Jean offered her own gloved hands, helping Marie up so they could share in a hug that lasted until the urgent knocking at the door disturbed them. It wasn't Logan though, but Clarice who invited herself in. Dressed for an evening out herself, she stumbled in her hurried step, clearly shocked by what she saw.

"I guess I've kept him waiting long enough, haven't I?" Marie laughed, smiling again at Jean in unspoken thanks for all her help.

Sparing one last glance at the woman who looked back at her from the mirror, Marie waved again, this time to the lost runaway from all the years before. She couldn't have ever known just where hitching a ride outside Vancouver would take her, but looking back on it now, she wouldn't change a thing with wear she ended up. Walked to the front door, there was a new road waiting for her, eager this time around to see just where it'd take her.

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The doors opened to draw his eye, but looking there, Logan felt his heart stop even as his hand went slack against the beer he had been sipping. The only thing that saved him from ruining his dress slacks were the quick reflexes of the elfin girl who walked with the most beautiful women he had ever known in his life, a flash of purple having Clarice holding his dropped beer for a sip.

"Whoa!" If he was shocked, then Jubilee was absolutely stunned as she rushed up the steps to marvel at Marie.

"You're beautiful." Logan said, offering her his hand as they found another at the bottom of the steps.

"You clean up pretty good yourself."

His three piece suit was brand new, freshly tailored and fitted after a visit in town, and a trip to the barber had him looking sharp if he did say so himself. Just like her handbag, he was another accessory for her night out, one that said her dance card was full. Leading her off to their ride for the night, it was freshly detailed, dazzling in the late afternoon sun.

"Don't wait up!" Logan called, throwing Clarice and Jubilee a wink meant for the both of them.

Theirs was a night out at the club, and for how they were dressed he felt a flicker of irritation at the thought of the leering looks they would attract. But they were big girls, and at least Clarice had her own date for the evening. Sighing as he felt all his years weight down upon his shoulders, Logan wandered around to the driver side as he had his own date he was keeping waiting.

Pulling out of the drive, it wasn't a night for the back roads as they had places to be, but he did have one surprise for her. Turning on the stereo, her sweet smile was all the thanks he needed for his time spent cobbling together a play list just for her. All old country songs fit for a slow dance, just a little reminder of their first, and the kiss that had come from it.

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"Okay, when the hell did that happen?!"

Grinning at Jubilee, Clarice stuck her tongue out in answer, that was for Logan and Marie to say as far as she was concerned. Besides, she was forty dollars richer now that Kitty had paid up. Blushing as she caught James looking at her from the rearview, Clarice smiled at him in what she hoped was enigmatic, but she would settle for sweet or cute in a pinch.

Giving up on her interrogation fo her best friend, Jubilee turned her attention to the sweaty crowd busy dancing away the night. Hidden away in an old parking garage, it was less a club and more a meet, the bass pounding beats provided by tricked out cars filled with speakers.

"Smart, it'll be easier to run when trouble comes." Bishop noted, looking as stoic as ever.

"Okay, we gotta get a drink in this man, stat. All kinds of hot he is, dude is a downer!" Jubilee growled, glaring at Bishop from the back seat.

"I only came so I can drive you home."

"So, sober up later, at least get a buzz on and try to live a little."

Biting her lip, Clarice smiled nervously at James as she wondered if their good natured meddling had been for the best. So far the only sparks flying between Jubilee and Bishop had been from trading verbal blows, though at least twice Jubilee had threatened to paf him after a harsh snub.

"We're here!"

Free at last, Clarice leapt out of the car to tackle James in a hug. The lights of the dance floor called to her as much as the thrill of not having to hide. Acting on impulse, she made her entrance in a show of her powers, twisting spacetime for a shortcut that had them fall right into the thronged mass of partygoers. Those that noticed cheered their arrival, rousing hoots and hollers vying to be heard against the music.

Emboldened by the admiring looks and the whispers telling her how pretty she was, how envious they were of her, Clarice found the beat and let go of her inhibitions. Leading James, she guided his hands to her swaying hips, flushed with sweat from the heat of so many bodies so close. Jubilee and Bishop were on their own, because this was a night for her to enjoy, and enjoy it she would.

Shivering at the fell of James roving up her sides, his thumbs brushing the swell of her tiny breasts, she squealed in delight as he easily hefted her up for a kiss. Wrapping her legs about his waist just to steady herself, his hands fell to cradle her, gasping as one claimed her bottom while the other explored the small of her back.

The little part of her mind that screamed at her that it was too much, too soon for anything like this was told to shut up. The teeth that brushed her lip were to be explored, enticed to more, finding the courage to chase after the teasing tongue that had startled her a heartbeat before.

"Wow..."

That it was James who was breathless in his shock left her giddy, throwing her slender arms about his broad neck so she could lure him in for another kiss, eager to know his hard panting breath against her lips again. This was their Wonderland after all, full of temptations begging to be eaten and drunk, touched and felt. The press of bodies around them were just the others there for their tea party, driven mad as any hatter by being free to be themselves if just for one night.

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Theirs was a table for two on a balcony that overlooked the dance floor, the waiter vanishing between courses, announcing himself with a polite cough as he came to see to their wishes. It was dark, secluded, and candle lit, the music of the band enticing in its allure as it tempted them to join the others who swayed to its melody.

Every dainty bite was an experience to be enjoyed in its fullest, a treat to senses sharpened by the tongue lashing Logan had given her in their first kiss of the evening. Every nuance the sommelier had spoken about of the particular vintage paired to their meal was there for Marie to discover.

"The lady approves?" Logan asked, his plate already cleared.

"You only got yourself to blame the next time I go draggin' ya out for a night of fine dinning, Sugah."

"It'll be worth it just to hear you make all those little mewling moans again."

Yet the look in his eyes said he wasn't thinking about a night out, his scent saying so much more than anything so innocent than enjoying her whimpering in ecstasy over a morsel or bite. To think this was how he saw the world, how he saw through every lie, it was pointless to ignore her feelings knowing her body betrayed her ever secret wish, her every naughty flight of fantasy.

It was too hot all over a sudden, sipping away at her glass of water until only the ice was left, stealing a sliver between her lips to roll against her tongue as she tried to step back from the brink Logan had led her too. His laughter tempted her to take another step forward, but his soft smile promised he'd follow her lead in that dance.

"I think I owe a lady a dance before we go ordering dessert."

"Dessert here just might ruin men for me, ya sure that's an act you're ready to follow?"

If she thought his flared nostrils were intriguing before, to know the cloy incense her desire smoldered of burned away all reason, engulfed her in a new understanding of the erotic. It was a base language spoken by the body that could speak only the truth in the beating of the heart that could tell no lie.

Forgetting the propriety of their meal, they met for a kiss that tested their endurance, engulfed in the flames of their passion that blinded them to everything else. Lost in the swirl of emotion, Marie couldn't tell where she stopped and Logan begun, their love and lust woven together within her.

When her vision cleared she felt herself held in his arms, swaying to the music the band played that they might enjoy a dance. Looking down to the couples below, each was lost in a world they only knew, seen in the eyes of their lover.

"I love you Logan, I think I always have. I just had to take the back roads to get here."

"Ain't that the truth, couldn't see the forest for the trees myself. Had to step back and find some perspective, but from where I'm standing now, it's a view to die for."

Their next kiss only knew the heat from the first in the cooling embers of the conflagration that had nearly consumed them. Having a promise of dessert yet and knowing all the couples on the dance floor were worlds away, Marie let herself be led down there, joined them without a worry to her greedy skin trusting in Logan's lead.

Nothing would ever be the same again, a life lived thinking love was a spark hadn't prepared her for the explosion afterwards. But she wasn't scared, she always loved the romance of uncharted territories, and she wouldn't be alone for this journey. Logan would be by her side every step of the way, his heart beating for her, and hers for him. Two imperfect halves filling the gaps in the other to make a whole.

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	13. Chapter 13

Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made from this work.  
  
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    Lost to the music, her heart beating to the pounding bass that called to something deep and primal within her, Jubilee danced with none and everyone at once.  A flash of feathers was an invitation to touch them, held in a huntresses eyes to feel as helpless as any fieldmouse against a hungry hawk.  Her own curious touch was returned just as gently by fingers that ran through her sweat drenched hair, as thumbs softly brushed her ears in a longing for something lost.  
  
“You’re gorgeous!”  Jubilee cried, admiring the plumage in the place of hair that would leave a stylist envious and frustrated to ever try to imitate.  
  
“And you’re adorable!”  
  
“Aw, can’t I be sexy instead?!”  Jubilee cried with a playful pout.  
  
    Answered with a flirtatious kiss that grew bolder from every ticklish touch of their roaming hands, panting as they parted, their laughter spoke the embarrassment they felt after getting caught up in the moment.  
  
“What can you do?”  Her huntress asked.  
  
    Smiling, Jubilee threw her hands up with the crowd, setting off a peppering of pafs.  Her huntress stared at them entranced, the sparkling streamers and brilliant starbursts dancing in her avian eyes.  Emboldened, Jubilee let go of her inhibitions and vied to be heard over the music, to be seen against the pulsing of the industrial lights that scattered their shadows.  Others joined in her lightshow, rousing a thunderous, earthshaking cheer.  
  
    The crush of bodies drew her away, awash in a tide she didn’t want to fight as she waved to her huntress in parting.  There was always someone else waiting to dance with her, another of her tribe ready to celebrate everything that made them just who and what they were, mutants.  Unable to keep track of her every partner, the music was ceaseless as one song embraced the next as intimately as any lover.  Dancing her way to the edges, she tumbled out on shaky legs and welcomed the cool air that washed over her sweat wet skin.  
  
    As alone as Jubilee felt after being caught up in the warmth of so many bodies, her heart ached at the sight of Bishop standing off at the car looking so stoic.  Wandering off, as she fell away from the dance floor she found enough perspective to search for Clarice and James, whooping in joy as she saw them at last, snapping a picture of Clarice riding atop of James’s shoulders as a memento.  
  
“Why so serious?”  Jubilee asked as she reached their car, taking Bishop into a hug he didn’t return.  
  
    Wracked by a sudden shiver, her now cold sweat had her squirming against the feel of a cold drop running down her back.  Sighing as she felt her sympathy was unwanted, Jubilee rolled away to lean against the car with him instead.  
  
“This is wrong.”  Bishop said softly, stripping out of his greatcoat to offer it to her.  
  
“Mixed signals, you talking chivalry ain’t dead, cause like...thanks.  Or you mean us getting our freak on like we don’t care who’s watching?”  
  
“Everything.”  
  
    Feeling like a kid wearing her father’s jacket, Jubilee breathed deep and enjoyed the scent that was wholly new to her, smiling as she noticed a hint of aftershave that smelt nice.  
  
“Trust me dude, ya don’t gotta tell me there’s a shit tonne wrong with the world, but everything?  Fuck no.  Just look out there, I mean how cute are Clarice and James together?”  
  
    Growing up with Scott and Logan as the men in her life, Jubilee was  used to both grumpy and pissed off, right along with a side order of stoic to boot. Spotting the telltale twitch of his jaw, she scooted a little closer to Bishop and reached for his hand.  It took a couple tries with how hidden hers were by the cuff of his greatcoat, but he didn’t shy away from her touch as she found him.  And just like Logan and Scott, hers felt small in his hand, felt safe for how softly he held hers despite every rough callus.  
  
“So, you crushing on Clarice?  I mean, believe it or not, I do know a thing or two about unrequited love.”  
  
“I’m happy for her.”  
  
“And James?”  Jubilee hazarded a guess, shivering as she felt a thumb brush against the back of her hand that left her confused for she thought of how Logan always did that when he tried to console her from one sadness or another.  
  
“And James.”  
  
    Forgetting her own conflicted feelings, or maybe just because of them, Jubilee fell against Bishop for another hug.  As fast as her heart ran, feeling more embarrassed than she did after sharing a kiss with her huntress, to feel Bishop return the hug this time eased away the ache in her throat that made it impossible to breathe.  
  
“One drink.”  
  
“One drink?”  Jubilee asked, utterly confused and feeling like he could have been speaking a different language.  
  
“I still have to get you all home safe.”  
  
    Blinking away tears that made her feel foolish with how loud she was laughing, Jubilee let herself be led away to the few people tending bar from the trunks of their cars.  Splitting a six pack, one drink led to two for Bishop while she finished off the rest.  
  
“But you do love them right, Clarice and James?  I’m not crazy in thinking that am I?”  
  
“I’m happy for them.”  Bishop confessed.  
  
    Curled in his lap enjoying the feel of his slow stroking of her sides, Jubilee couldn’t help but think the world didn’t seem so wrong in his eyes as it had before.  As tempted as she was to ask about it, men like him needed their secrets and would only share them when they were good and ready.  
  
“One dance?”  Jubilee asked, biting her lip against her hope he would say yes.  
  
    Suffering his stern, steely gaze, Jubilee had the decency to blush knowing she had pushed her luck far enough for one night.  
  
“Had to try.”  
  
    If not tonight, then maybe the next time.  Digging for her phone, Jubilee found another memento to remember the moment by, held in his arms as she smiled enough for the both of them.  Grumpy she knew after all, well enough to see past a stony facade that guarded the warmth that lay beneath, a warmth she felt in his every soft touch.  
  
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    Safe beneath his jacket, Marie wandered the streets of Salem held closely by Logan, just two more lovers out to enjoy the night.  They had their admirers in the old couples who looked on them knowingly, likely remembering what love was like when it was still sometimes terrifying for how hotly it burned, a marvellous madness that replaced reason with the wiles of the heart.  
  
“Where do we go from here?”  How quiet her own voice was surprised her, realizing how long she had been trying to ask that very question only to stumble with false starts that become a nervous giggle or laugh.  
  
“Well, first I’ll treat ya to a cup of coffee for the walk back.”  
  
    They had left the car behind at the restaurant, stepping out just for a moment so Logan could enjoy a cigar.  Wandering off to for a little bit of window shopping of a boutique herself, he joined her to drape his jacket over her huddled shoulders.  One store window led to another and soon they were walking down the street enjoying the sights.  
  
“After that?”  Marie asked.  
  
    What would they do once they returned home?  Go their separate ways as they had always done before?  Would she linger at her door in invitation, entice him with her eyes to lead him in?  Would he let her go at all, leading her instead to his room?  
  
“I’ll leave that up to you.”  
  
    Reason gave way to rage, why would it have to be her to make that choice?!  It wasn’t fair to make her choose for them, not with everything that kept them apart!  A shiver wracked her, filled with a loathing of her greedy skin.  She couldn’t even hold his hand for this walk like she wanted, to feel every rough ridge of his skin against hers, to enjoy the warmth that rose a sweat between them.  
  
    Standing alone in the street, Marie hadn’t even realized she had stopped until she heard his quiet, heavy step.  His finger guided her eyes up to his, her heartbeat counting out the seconds to that dread moment, waiting for his wince of pain only to have him step back from the edge instead.  
  
“I’m sorry.”  Logan whispered, his eyes full of a regret that didn’t belong in them.  
      
    Try as she might, she couldn’t keep her promise to Jean, ending the evening in the tears she had been on the very verge of crying before.  Only now they hurt, they stung from her grief that she couldn’t let be, what would be.  All she wanted to do was let Logan have her however he would, knowing in her heart he would never hurt her, couldn’t ever after realizing their love in their quiet confession before they took to the dance floor.  
  
“I think I could use that coffee now.”  Marie sputtered, taking a deep breath as she tried to calm herself.  
  
    He looked on the verge of saying something, whatever it was he bit it back and smiled at her as he always did to make her feel better.  A look, a touch, a smarmy remark was all it ever took him before, back when they had only been friends.  Tonight his smile had a sadness in it that stung to see.  
  
“I’m sorry...”  Marie croaked in a hoarse echo of his earlier apology.  
  
    Again he stopped, holding her there in the street as if it were deserted for how he looked at her, as if she were the only one in his lonely world.  
  
“Just say yes and we’ll see what happens.  No regrets, no apologies, no hurt feelings if all we manage is a goodnight kiss.  Just...say yes.”  
  
    Words failed her as she covered her mouth, giving her answer with a nod and not even caring that she was crying again because they were tears that knew no sadness.  It was a chance at something more even if all it ended in was a kiss.  Because that kiss would be a promise of another night, a night where they could be together as they wished.  And like any Fairy Godmother, Marie trusted Jean to work a bit of magic that would let her have the happy ending she deserved.  
  
    Wandering off together for a cup of coffee that would lead to a drive home, the clock hadn’t struck midnight yet so they could take the back roads back with just the radio to keep them company.  There was always a chance an old country classic would come on, fit for a slow dance that would remind them their first.  
  
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	14. Chapter 14

Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made from this work.

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"Close your eyes..."

It was a door Marie knew as well as her own, thinking of every imperfection and picked at flaw that made it Logan's. Closing her eyes as he had asked her, his hand guided hers to the polished brass knob, soothed away the trembling of her fingers as she twisted it open. His breath at the back of her neck left her in want of a kiss, mewling in her need as he surrendered to her urges.

Held in his arms, blind to her every step forward by his wish, he was a welcome weight dragging her down into the desirable darkness of her dreams.

"Keep them closed."

Whimpering as he denied her his touch, the feel of his hands running down her sides he was finally free to know in a new, urgent intimacy, one last kiss promised he wouldn't be long. Tempted as she was to steal a peek, she endured his wish, her world one of scent, sound, and of touch to which she felt so very sensitive to with how she waited for his return.

The crack of a lit match brought with it the acrid smoke that smelt so nice, full of so many tantalizing possibilities, of candles and cigars and evenings spent in on a stormy night. Burning as incense to their evening, she plucked the new scent of a wine dipped cigar and smiled.

The darkness behind her eyes fled with the blossom of red that hinted of candles, listening to his quiet tread about the room that told of his making the rounds to light up gifts he had thought of silly at the time, but finally had found a use for. Whether from the naked, dancing flames or her own desperation, Marie felt herself grow warm, waiting in her longing for his return to her side so she might be alone no more.

She couldn't quiet her gasp to hear the unexpected in the music that played, a favourite of hers for evenings alone when her only company was a book ripe with romance, surprised that Logan had an appreciation for Portishead like her.

"Wandering stars, for whom it is reserved..." Marie sung in hardly more than a breath, lost to the soulful voice that serenaded her.

"The blackness of darkness forever." Said in a husky whisper that bespoke his own hunger, Logan wandered somewhere behind her in the darkness.

Lost to her enjoyment of everything that lay beyond sight, a realm of the scent of candles and cigars, a place of music that spoke to her heart in the slow and steady bass that beckoned her to join it, Marie hadn't noticed that her love had returned. Something silk fell over her eyes to take away temptation she might have to disobey him, tied with a tight knot that fitted snugly against the base of her skull.

"Say yes again..."

Speechless for the feel of his hand running down the flat of her belly, to feel his fingers find the very edge of the naughty negligee she wore in secret, Marie struggled to answer his request if just to see where it would lead.

"Yes, oh god yes, anything Logan..."

His answer came in a brush of lips that trailed kisses down her neck, between her shoulders to fall against her back. Crying out as she felt his teeth against her, her heart ached to know why he had abandoned her once more, answered in the tearing of a zipper that exposed her to the night. Her dress fell in a pool at her feet, guided there by his hands that trailed down her inner thighs, soothed away the shaking of her buckling knees.

She waited in her expectation, nearly nude for him if not for the silky things she wore that played at being modest. His guttural growl spoke of everything he had no words for, his breath hot against her as he rose from his knelt appreciation of her. For how he lingered at her very cleft, to hear his sharp sudden intact of breath that told of his flared nostrils, she couldn't deny the dampness that threatened to darken her panties.

"All I want from you tonight, all I need right now is to see you get off, to feel you tremble in my arms as you come."

Held against him tight enough to feel his wanton hardness press against her, Marie let herself be handled by him and led to his bed. Any other night would have had them watching a movie, cradled with him to listen to the patient patter of his heart, but this wasn't a night for the friendship that had seen them through to this very moment.

His heart hammered away as she fell against his lap, his skin hot against hers for the fire she kindled in him, that burned in his veins to raise a steamy, salty sweat. By the feel of his unbuttoned shirt she knew it was his tie that had become her blindfold, left her with a vision of his hardened muscles glistening in the candle light.

Having him so close was torture, to feel his arousal demandingly throb and twitch against her even as he denied his own need. Feeling his gentle touch at her breast slowly grow ever bolder as he pinched her roused peak between his thumb and finger, her hands fell to satisfy her own needy want so she might satisfy his only wish of her, to feel her come against him and hold her through that cresting wave of carnal lust.

Again and again he toyed with her, running his fingers across her as he tempted her greedy flesh to snatch at all he had to offer, stepping back from the brink to deny that hunger. Lost to all her fantasies that had seen her through the lonely nights when she had to find release, he burned away everyone who ever came before, replaced the lover of every smutty book she had ever bedded before.

"Oh god, Logan!" Marie moaned, whimpering from her want to not be alone as she came.

His hand tracing the softness of her stomach had an urgency she had never known before as she felt a finger delve within her navel, travel past her neatly trimmed and tended patch that he twisted between his fingers. Unable to breath as she waited in her expectation of his boldness, he slipped a finger past the wetness she had roused in her efforts, welcoming him as he penetrated her as none other than herself ever had.

Flooded with new sensations not her own, she came to the feel of herself writhing against his turgid length, felt the slickness his own need roll down his heated head. She wasn't alone in her climax, drunk on the feel of her thighs crushing against his hand from every angle, seeing through his eyes the swell of her own breasts that he longed to take in his lips, to lave with the roughness of his tongue.

Beating as one their hearts hammered away, the darkness coming to steal them both after the dazzling heights they had flown, the sun proving too hot for them to handle in the end. It wasn't sleep that claimed her, but fatigue. Soothed with his soft whisper promising her meaningless things, all she needed from him was his love, everything else could be figured out in the dawn where a new day waited for them as lovers ever more.

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Curled up against Bishop, Jubilee had won out in a war of attrition that pitted her boundless supply of perky against his worn nerves, battering his defences until he broke down to accept her offer of a night cap.

"Told ya I had some good sipping whiskey hidden where no one would think ta look for it, but you'd have to know Wolvie...I mean Logan...to know why I hid it in that gaudy ass bottle of perfume that was way better off flushed down the toilet."

Ruffling her pups ears as he laid curled upon her lap, Jubilee accepted Wolvie's kisses, it wasn't as if she had to worry about anyone else's tonight. It was nice enough to have some company, even if she had to bully Bishop into joining her.

Enjoying a sip that warmed her belly, a comfortable numbness softened her senses, left her feeling sleepy as she laid so warm trapped between Bishop and her pup. Every touch of his was a temptation she had to fight against, filled as she was with bold urges she feared might scare him away, that might set him back on edge as he had been since that first day she met him.

"Feel free to tell me to shut up and pass the bottle, but...any chance you could tell me why you look like a guy who's waiting for the other shoe to drop?"

She had been ready for him to leave, to tell her it wasn't any of her business, or to just ignore her and have another sip of her whiskey. What she hadn't expected was the feel of his arms wrapping her up in a hug, to feel his chin atop her head as he cradled her in his arms like a man who needed to feel something.

"Have you ever had a nightmare so terrifying that you couldn't tell what was real when you woke up? So vivid that every time you laid down to go to sleep, all you could think about was waking up to find out that everything else was the dream, and that the nightmare was real?"

"...maybe not that bad, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't scared about waking up to find myself back in foster care after I first came here." Jubilee whispered, sniffling against tears she thought had long ago been drained from her.

It wasn't an easy quiet between them, trying to think of something to say every time she passed the bottle back and forth. Even Wolvie felt it, nudging his mistress with his cold, damp nose, staring up at her with sad eyes that broke her heart to see. Forcing a smile as she petted him to ease away his concerns, she wished it could only be so easy with Bishop.

"You think it's not just some nightmare, don't you?" Jubilee asked after wetting her lips on a sip of whiskey, finding her courage in the bottom of a bottle.

"Not anymore, not after meeting Clarice and James. Not after seeing the Professor, and Logan, and everyone else."

"And me?" Jubilee asked, dreading the answer as she let her gaze fall to the soulful eyes that looked up at her from her lap.

"I never saw you in my nightmare."

"What did you see?"

Giving her pup one last kiss in apology before brushing him aside, Jubilee twisted against Bishop and stared up into his troubled eyes. Straddling his lap so she could rest her chin on his shoulder, so she could feel his rough, stubbly cheek against her own, she felt for the beating of his heart against her own breast and hoped he could feel hers against his.

Her relief came as his arms wrapped her up into a hug filled with the desperation of the drowning, suffering in silence and happy to be that thing he clung to so he could keep his head above water. She knew that desperation herself, her heart aching from the reminder of how much it hurt.

"It was a world where everything went wrong, a world where we had no hope. I saw everyone I loved, everyone I cared for die."

"Fuck, no wonder you're scared." Jubilee sputtered, feeling a tear not her own roll down her cheek that told of his tears.

Blinking away her own so she could see him, blurry for how impossible a feat that was, she kissed his cheek and pressed her brow to his lips so very like someone used to do for her. Struggling to speak for the ache in her throat, for the guilt that weight down on her chest thinking he was just another grumpy fucker too proud to let anyone in, she smiled at him full of all her sadness from seeing him cry.

"Sleep here tonight, no hanky panky or nothing. Just some bunk time. I'll be here with you, someone you can hold and feel and know that I'm real. Because you said it yourself, I wasn't in your nightmare. So I'm all the proof you need that this is real, that you're not gonna go waking up back there the moment you close your eyes."

"And the next night?"

"As many nights as it takes, cause I'm not going anywhere. Well, except the little girls room. But you got Wolvie to keep ya company until I come back."

His laughter was a balm to her soul, soothed away the aches and settled her worries. Sitting there on his lap and cradled in his arms, she nearly lost her struggle to pull away. Relieved after sipping too much whiskey and a few too many beers, her reflection taunted her to be just a little more bold. Stripping down to her panties and casting off her bra, she tugged her t-shirt back on and made ready for bed.

Cracking the door for Wolvie and turning out the lights, she curled against Bishop and helped him to chase after a good nights sleep. Through a few twists and turns in the sheets, she found herself held in his arms, heard his even breath that said he had finally drifted off to sleep. Feeling the sandman tug at her eyes, she surrendered herself, satisfied to know she'd be there for him if he ever needed a reminder of where he was, his own little dream catcher snatching up any bad dreams.

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	15. Chapter 15

Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made from this work.

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Clawing her way through the darkness, the sooty soil clung to her skin while the smoke stole her breath with a tortured cough. The crackling told of fires, sudden pops sending streamers of sparks flying into the abyssal sky that no stars shone from. Struggling to get to her feet, something in the ash tumbled down the hill she climbed, screaming her horror from the taunting smile of a skull.

The ground shook, the land itself beat into submission with every shuddering quake. Cresting the rise that offered a view she wish she could turn away from, her tears cleaned the grime and filth that stained her cheeks, falling as an inky stain from her chin as she stared on aghast, frozen at what she saw there...

"Oh god!"

Bodies laid in the smoldering ruin of a city, lit by the flames that engulfed cars and corpses alike. The quaking became as constant as her own heart that beat to a shuddering tattoo as she stood there trembling. Feeling a shadow fall over her, told only by the cold that crept into her bones, she turned to face whatever monster lay there, screaming her terror as brilliant light blazed in the menacing maw...

"Logan!" Marie wailed, filled with fear she had never known before in her life.

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Jerking awake so fast he fell out of his armchair, Logan rushed to Marie and snatched her into his arms, held her against the nightmare that gripped her with sightless eyes. Brushing away her tears and smoothing out her dampen hair wet with sweat, finally she found him, her fearful eyes finding respite in his worried ones as she clung to him.

Easing her away just enough to wrap her up into a blanket, already her skin dragged him down with a faltering heart that ached from his concern. To feel her skin so cold from whatever had tormented her, all he wanted to do was warm her against him but he couldn't even do that.

"It's over, it was just a bad dream..." Logan whispered.

"It was horrible..." Marie croaked, shuddering with a sob as she gulped for breath.

The stink of her fear set him on edge, reminded him of his own nightmares all too well and the faces of everyone he'd lost. But that was all that they were anymore, just bad dreams that couldn't hurt him, couldn't hurt any of them.

"It felt so real..."

"You're right here with me and I ain't ever letting anything happen to ya. I love you..."

Finding a reminder of their enchanted evening in a necklace that sat on his night stand, Logan dangled it before her eyes as a reminder of it all. Guiding her eyes to where her dress hung with her frilly unmentionables, he'd cleaned up since he left her to claim his bed as her own, something he was plenty glad to give her.

Blinking away her tears as a blush painted her cheeks, Marie looked to him in her embarrassment that he brushed off with a kiss. Tenderly tracing her lip with the tip of his tongue, he lured her into an inflamed kiss as they were engulfed in renewed passion. Nuzzling his nose against her cheek, he lost himself in her eyes, set a sea against their tide as they grew wide, dark and dangerous.

"Just a bad dream." Logan promised, soothing away the last of her timid shakes as he held her against his bare chest.

The feel of her hair against his skin left him shuddering with want that left him rigid against her, ignoring his own needs as she listened to the beat of his racing heart.

"It felt so real." Marie whispered again.

Finding her hand beneath the folds of his blanket, he let her fingers explore his long life line and every other silly bit of superstition some subscribed to. The only truths to be divined from his rough hands were the calluses to tell of all the work he did around the school, and the time he spent down in the weight room.

"This is real, this right here, us. Last night was real and someday we'll have something more than a little hand play."

Her laughter broke the spell of her nightmare and soothed away the tension in his own shoulders and the tightness of his chest. Feeling the sting of her needy flesh he could never think of as greedy, not with how willing he would be to give her his entirety if he could, she let go with a sweet smile that said she had felt his love for her.

"What time is it?" Marie asked with a choked laugh, feeling foolish all of a sudden.

"Doesn't matter what time it is, it's Saturday. Lemme tuck ya back in, I'll be here till you drift off and all the through till ya wake back up after some better dreams."

"Promise?"

Letting another kiss speak for him, he held her in his gaze until all the worry eased away from her wrinkled brows. "Love ya, and I'll see ya in the morning."

Content to lay there until she woke, his sheets marked by her sweat and the lusty scent of her earlier satisfaction, tempted as he was to tend to his own needs that was something for his morning shower once the sun had finally cracked the horizon. Reining in his beast's base urges, he played at being a prince for his Sleeping Beauty, waiting to wake her with a kiss once she stirred in the new day that would be their first together, looking forward to every other after no matter how long it took to get them where they were going.

"Sweet dreams..."

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"Mmm, I could get used to this..." Jubilee purred as she woke to the feeling the broad chest she curled against.

Somewhere through the night Bishop had stripped out of his shirt, proving himself modest with the jeans he still wore. Shivering from his gentle touch at the small of her back, to his finger brushed the hem of her panties only to stop left her pouting as she looked up into his embarrassed expression.

"Sleep well?"

"Better than I had in weeks..." Bishop confessed.

"Same time tonight then?"

Confused and conflicted as he looked, she wouldn't have any of it as she climbed atop his lap to pin him to her bed. Guiding his hands to her hips, she tugged down her shirt after noticing how much it had ridden up throughout the night.

"Let me get this straight out there. Yeah, I got the hots for you. Trust me, if I didn't I woulda dug out the flannel instead. But I still woulda let you use me as your teddy bear so you could catch some much needed sleep."

"...it's too hot for flannel." Bishop mused with a gruff laugh, slowly running his hands down her tempting thighs.

"I know! And look at you, guess it got a little too hot for you too. So, maybe boxers tonight? Shorts? Actually, what do you sleep in?" Jubilee rambled, coming to a sputtering stop as she noticed something in his smile that hinted at the answer, nothing...

"I could wear shorts."

"...but do you, you know, usually wear shorts? Because I'm okay with whatever you usually wear to bed, or, ya know...don't wear..." Jubilee chuckled with a nervous laugh, wanting to be sure she wasn't imagining things.

Taken into his arms for a hug that let her enjoy a few fantasies, held against his chest with just a flimsy t-shirt to keep things safe after her promise of no hanky panky, she wondered what it would be like to wrap her legs about his waist as she so very nearly could.

"If you wanna talk about it some more tonight over a nightcap, I'm game. Of course if you want to talk to someone else, I dunno, the Prof? Logan? And...you still think I'm talking about boxers or briefs..." Laughing giddily at seeing how dismayed he looked to hear those names thrown down on the tracks of his train of thought, Jubilee surrendered to her urge for a kiss, but just to his rough cheek that told he needed a shave.

"My nightmare..." Bishop whispered, finding comfort from trailing a finger down her spine as he held her.

"I've had some nightmares, a few real bad ones I'll never forget. I've also had some really stupid ones, ya know, naked in front of class, that kind of stuff. You don't talk like it's just some nightmare, you talk like a guy whose seen shit go down. PTSD kinda shit."

Drawn against his chest until she laid atop him looking down on his worry writ face, his guilt ridden eyes were ones she recognized from all the times she had found her own reflection looking sadly back at her, a survivors guilt at having lived when their loved ones hadn't.

"Damn, I shoulda said no crying too last night." Jubilee laughed bitterly as she felt a tear roll down her cheek.

Enduring the ache in her heart as Bishop brushed away her errant tear and then the next, she forced a smile for him.

"Logan, I could talk to him." Bishop said softly as he stroked her damp cheek.

"Would you believe he was my first guess?" Jubilee managed to laugh and find a smile for his gentle touch that wiped away her tears.

"Good guess."

"So..." Jubilee said, staring into his eyes.

"So..." Bishop echoed, his thumb resting at her chin.

Pulled together by the pent up desires they tried to deny, her lips hovered near his, struggling to keep their promise from the night before. Finding the strength to turn away at the last moment, Jubilee felt herself kissed every bit as friendly as she wanted to keep things despite all her flirting. Melting against him as he ran his hand through her hair to hold her close, her ear burned for his breath that brushed against it.

"I'll see you tonight." Bishop whispered with one last kiss that warmed her cheek.

"I'll be waiting, boxers, briefs, or...whatever you're comfortable with."

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Ducking back into the hall, Marie peeked into the kitchen to see Clarice and Jubilee sitting together staring off into space as their coffee went cold. Feeling more curious than worried about having to recount her date with Logan, she wandered in as nonchalant as she could muster after the encore Logan had treated her to before her morning shower.

Dressed in another of his pilfered shirts and a pair of his boxers, she wasn't about to deny that it had been more than a date last night. In fact she was very tempted to talk about a few highlights that left her so giddy that her nightmare was nearly forgotten as the bad dream it was. Fixing a cup of coffee and taking it sweet with honey and cream, Marie settled down at the table with them to wait out her imminent interrogation.

"So..." Marie asked as the moment dragged on.

"Jubilee and Bishop slept together." Clarice sputtered.

Spitting her coffee in time to Jubilee, Marie stared at her usually sweet and shy friend who sat laughing at them.

"Well, yeah, as in literally slept together, not ya know, slept together. Not that I'd say no if he asked for the hanky panky version after we get to know each other a little better than me being his teddy."

"Well that's boring." Clarice huffed with a shrug.

"What about you, little miss _I got photos of you all over James_?"

"We made out with some heavy petting, but then he tucked me in and I had some very nice dreams. Also, you have to send me those photos." Clarice said without a hint of embarrassment painting her violet cheeks purple.

"How heavy?" Marie asked, thinking of her own evening.

"...not that heavy. Why?" Clarice asked, tilting her head in clear curiosity as she took in Marie's state of dress.

Try as she might to keep the dumb grin from her face, Marie blushed furiously as Jubilee and Clarice looked at her in clear shock.

"Did you two...?" Jubilee began.

"We did...something. Twice. But if you want any details, you can ante up like everyone else for our weekly poker game."

"Shut up and take my money!" Jubilee blurted out.

"Gotta wait till tonight like everyone else, Sugah. And like always, I ain't showing you my hand unless I see your chips, ya can't fold out."

"I'm glad I got a couple of IOUs to cash in." Clarice teased with a wink.

"Brat." Marie huffed, giving Clarice a kick under the table.

"Hey...uh, on a sidenote. Is Logan running down to the Roadhouse tonight? Uh, Bish kinda wants to have a chat with him."

"Probably." Friday nights were usually his night to head down there, but after their date last night...

"Cool. Well, I think I'll go track them down to set up their man date, and then I gotta find out who's borrowing my son. Bish said Wolvie took off like a bat outta hell around the time he started smelling some bacon cooking, I don't need him getting fat on me because the kids can't resist his begging."

"See ya when I see ya, and don't go forgetting your wallet Jubes." Marie teased, offering her friend a hug as she left.

Sitting in silence as she enjoyed her coffee, it was clear that Clarice had been up to some more mischief with how she was smiling.

"What?"

"Kitty owe's me twenty bucks, I said Bishop and Lee would sleep together before the week was out."

"Yeah, I think I'll be siding with Kitty on that and call bullshit."

"Spoilsport."

Laughing just the same, Marie let go of a sigh tinged with memories of the horrible nightmare that had woken her. But like always, Logan had been there for her as he always promised, smiling at the memory of being wrapped up in his blanket as he chased away her bad dream. It was their bed now, marked twice by her desire he had helped her with.

Turning over thoughts of him claiming the sheets in her absence, his hand tight against his hardness she had felt against her the night before, Marie wondered would it would be like there to lay with him as he sated himself.

"Maybe another night..." Marie purred, ignoring Clarice's inquiring eyes begging for answers that could wait until later.

Saturday night poker with the girls was about sharing secrets between bouts of table talk and bitching about boyfriends or the lack thereof. Except now everything was coming up straights after so many shit hands over the years, Queens over Jacks. But smiling to herself, Marie had a King to trump them all in Logan, read 'em and weep ladies.

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	16. Chapter 16

Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made from this work.

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"Wow, I guess ya really did get a little Logan in ya." Jubilee called from the dock where she laid nursing her beer.

Comfortably reclined in an Adirondack chair, Marie tapped away the ash of her pilfered stogie. Smiling as she thought again of how Logan had woken her, that story had come out over the poker table. She still had the outcome of her date as her ace in the hole, not a one of them could corner her in the chip count to have her toss that one in.

"Knuckle deep."

Howling with laughter, Marie realized her and her friends would never be able to take Logan's usual threat of sinking his claws knuckle deep the same way ever again. Enjoying a sip of bourbon that warmed her belly, the quiet night crept back with the crackle of their bonfire and the throaty croak of the occasional bullfrog. The abandoned boathouse had always been their haunt for misbehaving and tonight was no different.

Spying how comfortably Ororo sat by the fire looking lost in thought, Marie wondered just what stories the woman had to tell of her own younger years and just what mischief her and Jean likely got up to. It was foolish to think she and her friends were the first to find the boathouse, let alone sneak down a bottle of booze or sneak a smoke that left them hacking up a lung.

Looking to where Kitty and Clarice laid curled together on a blanket on the shore, their picked poison was a bottle of wine they shared for sips while drunkenly skipping stones.

"You remember the first time we did this?" Jubilee asked, her voice tinged with wistful nostalgia.

Teasing her hair, it had been after she had earned her skunk streak that she never once thought to dye. Back then most had made fun that it was her badge of honour from helping the X-men beat Erik. Truth be told, it was her reminder of just how dangerous it all was and how close she came to dying had it not been for Logan. He saved her just like he always said he would only to end up in a coma for his trouble.

"I had a bit more than a little of Logan running around in my head back then."

"I know, ya kept tucking me in like he always would whenever I was upset about something. Kinda awkward, but I mean with how shaken up I was with, ya know..." Trailing off out of her embarrassment, Jubilee ignored the sympathy her friends offered in remembrance of how inconsolable she had been after seeing Logan brought on a stretcher.

"Remember her mouthing off to Scott?" Clarice offered up to steer the conversation back to the trouble caused by having a pint sized Logan of sorts running around.

"Hell, remember when she hit on Jean?" Kitty teased.

"Oh shut up!" Marie said in a huffy breath, ruefully laughing as she fought a smile.

"What about when she walked in the boys change room after gym class?" Ororo said with a titter of laughter, adding her own favourite of all the little accidents.

"Oh my gawd Ro!" Marie growled angrily though her face burned hot from her embarrassment at being reminded of that awful moment.

Their hearty laughter echoed again into the night, though with her borrowed sharpened senses Marie thought she heard a coyote yipping in the distance.

"So, you and Logan got any plans for tonight?" Cracking open a fresh beer, Jubilee arched her back with a yawn, stretching out a kink as she rolled to her side.

"...maybe." Marie answered, wondering that very question herself.

All she wanted to do was climb beneath the blankets in nothing more than a T-shirt and wake to find Logan holding her in his arms. Thinking of how easy it was for Jubilee to enjoy that simple platonic pleasure with Bishop left her feeling a bit of the old envy, drowning it in a long swig of bourbon. Her Momma always said jealousy was a petty reason to hate, but her Momma had proven her colours as a yellow, lying bitch once her little girl put a boy in a coma after having her first kiss.

But as much as she might hate to admit it, Marie couldn't help but think her Momma was right when it came to jealousy. Enjoying a slow draw of her cigar that was getting a bit short one side of the cherry red ember, she blew a smoky breath and thought it was time to grab her boot straps and pull herself up.

"Eventually." Feeling like it was time to take Jean up on her promise, Marie silently swore to herself to stop letting her skin control her life.

"What about you, Jubes? You and Bishop having another sleep over?" Leave it to Kitty to know when someone needed a dose of their own medicine.

If any of them were a tomboy it was Jubilee, she had a mouth that could make a biker blush and most put the blame squarely on Logan for that. But there were times she could look downright delicate and those were the moments Marie wished she had an ounce of the artistic skill Pete had so she could sketch them out.

"We talked about it and he said yes, but I'm not holding my breath until he gets back from the bar with Logan. Dude's the reason I've never had a boyfriend." Jubilee grumbled, though Kitty and Clarice had a coughing fit full of _bullshit_.

"Jubilation, trust me on this. There were plenty of boys interested, but you managed to intimidate them all by yourself." Ororo always came off as their big sister, cutting them slack to live life and make their own mistakes, but she wasn't one to sugar coat things and had absolutely no sympathy if they came to class with a hangover.

"Speaking of boys, I said I'd meet James after poker."

"Oh? For heavy petting?" Catty as her namesake, Kitty grinned at Clarice as she got to her feet.

"No, for some Netflix and a whole lot of shut your mouth Pryde!" Clarice spat, blowing a rude raspberry at Kitty as she blinked away in a purple portal.

"Dammit, she was my ride back to the school! Now I gotta walk, thanks a lot Kitty!" Jubilee growled.

"Mmm, I'm kinda thinking I wouldn't mind a nice long soak myself before Logan gets back." Stumbling to her feet, Marie helped Jubilee up on her own unsteady legs.

With the better part of a bottle of bourbon done, she could tell that Logan was fading away as a buzz crept up on her. Passing it off to Ororo as she wandered by, it was a walk back to the school for her and Jubilee. Though with one last look over her shoulder she smiled at the sight of Kitty and Ro curling up together at the fire. Just like Jubes and her had Logan, Kitty had Ororo as that special someone who was always there for them.

Sparing them a wave, a sudden warm breeze felt like Ororo's way of wishing them a nice walk back.

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"Yer pretty quiet for a guy who wanted to have a chat."

Other than ordering up a few brews, Bishop had sat in silence working from one beer to the next. Logan didn't need his nose to know the man had something on his mind, it was all there in his body language. Looking like he was working up the courage to ask a hard question, if Bishop had been anyone else then Logan might have figured he knew that question with the way Jubilee's scent clung to him.

But Bishop wasn't another of the boys that had grown up thinking Bobby was ballsy for hitting on Rogue. Clarice and Jubilee were a couple more of his darlings that the boys treated with all the respected they figured was due to the girls who had their own tame attack Wolverine. Chuckling, all his girls could take care of themselves, hell, he'd been on the receiving end of just what they could do when it came down to it.

"I'm going to ask you a question because I need to know I'm not going crazy. Do you know what a Sentinel is?"

And suddenly beer just wouldn't cut it as Logan looked to Bishop, easing the man's hand away from his glass before he could go shattering it in his tight grip. Ordering up a round of shots, five each, Logan pounded back his beer and looked at Bishop again.

"You're the one Kitty kept sending back to stay ahead of them, ain't ya?"

Everything he expected couldn't prepare Logan for the tears Bishop had, for the relief in his eyes as he looked him squarely in his. Taking up a shot and waiting until Bishop found his own, all his questions could wait just a little longer.

"We did it kid, the war's over."

Pounding back his shot in time to Bishop, the burn satisfied all his ghosts that stirred from thinking back to the fifty years he spent in a worse off world that was now undone like some bad dream.

"When did ya start remembering?" Logan asked, knowing the day all too well himself.

"Four months back, they started off as nightmares. Then I started remembering things, all it took was something to remind me. A car backfiring, a news story about a war zone, children screaming at a playground..."

A second short lead to a third and a fourth before they got back to beer, leaving the last for once everything was said and done. Eyeing Bishop, he didn't know how the kid had kept it together for so long. He didn't have the Professor and Hank to prove it he wasn't crazy, to prove that it was all real and that they'd done it.

"That how you found your way here, remembering things ya shouldn't know?"

"They don't remember it, do they? Clarice, James, or any of them?"

"Other than Chuck needing a little convincing from the Professor we knew no one knows what it was like except maybe Erik, and I probably don't gotta tell you why he's got an idea o' it. Hank and me have a chat now and again, but I don't go getting into the mud and the blood of it."

That was a guilt Logan held deep down in his gut from a lifetime ago, fighting his way across Europe for a second time without knowing the full extent of the horrors that waited for him.

"Ya still having nightmares?" That was stupid question if there was one given he still had his own nightmares waking him up to a cold sweat and a need for a belt of whiskey.

What he hadn't expected was to see Bishop look at him with a smile despite his tears. He wasn't a man haunted by a past undone, instead looking like any other veteran Logan had ever seen in his long lived life who was happy to be home again.

"Not as many last night, someone promised to be my anchor and keep me here. She promised I wouldn't wake up back there." Bishop whispered, drying his eyes on a cheap bar napkin.

"Ya ever need anyone to talk to, don't be shy. Despite my reputation to go guttin' anyone who gets too friendly with my lil darlings, I don't bite."

Laughing deep and rich, Bishop offered his hand and Logan gladly accepted it. There were still plenty of things he had on his chest that he couldn't go talking to anyone about, not Chuck or Hank alike. But in Bishop he had someone to go trading war stories with, to remember the fallen and drink to their ghosts.

"Why don't you tell me about them instead, your darlings."

Smiling himself as he thought of two little scamps in particular that use to go chasing him around like a couple of lost puppies, they were his girls all before he finally found the one he'd been waiting his whole life for. Ordering up another round, Logan had more than a few tales to tell about them right up to when he added a feisty southern belle to that already volatile mix.

"Picture Clarice and Jubes at around thirteen looking like they're going on ten, first thing most folk ever said on seein' 'em was how sweet and innocent they looked. Well, sweet and innocent my ass..."

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	17. Chapter 17

Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made from this work.

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Harkening back to the days of yore when the Xavier's had called the mansion their home, the teacher's wing of the school had seen few renovations since the original additions had been made. Curled in an antique cast iron soaker, Marie suckled on an ice cube that was made all the more delectable for the piping hot water she lounged in, wisps of steam rising from her glistening skin as she stretched to trail a toe down the faucet ripe with a cold sweat.

The fickler of candles and a sudden breeze hinted that he was back from the bar, her lover returned to her at last. The music that played reminded her of that enchanted evening, of how he stole away her sight to lead her to a new height of ecstasy she had never before found despite her lonely tries. Biting hard at the ice that stung her teeth with an aching cold, it was an utter pleasure against her suffering the dreams fuelled by romantic fantasies and the straightforward smut she sometimes indulged in reading.

The door already open a crack swayed wider and there he stood bathed in the amber light of all the candles she had gathered up and dotted about the bathroom. Their flames danced in his dark eye as shadows etched his features in stone. She felt the weight of his gaze against her bare skin, shivering from his hunger that set her hard and interested for him to see. Feigning ignorance of his watchfulness from that darkened door, she found her frilly shower sponge and drizzled a bit of fragrant soap against it.

Closing her eyes, she trailed the soap down her neck, her shoulder, and down her breast until it fell below the bathwater and vanished. Across her belly and further yet, she cracked an eye at the quiet creak of the door to see him wander in with a bottle of scotch and two tumblers.

"Hope ya don't mind, but I felt like having a soak and your room was the only one I knew had a nice ol' cast iron tub."

Maybe a bit of a white lie, but his was the only room she felt comfortable to borrow as her own, sneaking in with everything she needed to enjoy herself after walking back with her very tipsy friend. Tucking Jubilee in with that last little bit of Logan haunting her, Marie had tiptoed through the halls to her own room as just a stop along her way to waiting out last call at the Roadhouse.

"Always had an open invitations darling, ya only ever needed to knock so ya didn't go gettin' an eyeful..."

"...you forgot to knock just now, so I hope ya like what you see." Resting her heel against the edge of the soaker, she left a soapy veil from her calf until her hands vanished below the surface again, feeling his eyes rove across her skin.

Smirking at her boldness, he knelt next to the tub and gathered up a fistful of ice for a nightcap. Pouring them two fingers deep, he looked suitably mystified by her girlish giggle. Offering him her sponge for the glass he had for her, it was her own open invitation for him to do what he would.

"Have a nice chat with Bishop?" Surrendering to her own curiosity due to Jubilee's tightlipped stubbornness, she savoured a slip of scotch and let it roll across her tongue with a new appreciation for it.

Even if she didn't have his sharp senses, the subtle flavours evoked memories of the world seen through his eyes. Letting go of a gasp at his first tentative touch, she indulged her sensitive skin and closed her eyes. Slowly down her neck and across her shoulder he ran his hand, just the frilly sponge making it safe as she felt his fingers find their way through the damp folds of silky ribbon.

Mewling her disappointment as he denied her his touch after brushing at her breast to trail down her side, she fought against the temptation to peek. Crying sharply at his new touch, her skin burned from the unaccustomed cold that climb from the crest of her cleaved valley unto her collar. Trailing up her neck to her chin, he traced her lips and denied her once more. This time she couldn't deny the urge only to be glad she didn't, treated to the sight if him suckling on the eyes that left her needy to know his tongue against her hardened peaks.

"Kid just needed to know where he stood." Logan said, holding the ice between his teeth.

"About Jubilee?" This derailment was her own fault for asking after his night out.

"Something like that."

It wasn't a lie, but she knew Logan well enough to know it wasn't the whole truth. Wondering if it was any of her business, she enjoyed another sip and savoured his touch that vanished beneath the steaming water of her bath. He didn't bathe her so much as tickle and tease her, laving attention to her legs that stole his hand between them as an enticing trap.

"Turn over."

His voice begged her to disobey if just to see what would happen, but the thought of his hands running down her spine and lower was all too tempting to find out what he might do if she did. Surging against edge of the tub to press herself against the warm ivory enamel, the first teasing drops of something fell down her back. It wasn't soap but instead one of her bath oils, lavender joining the aroma of a couple of scented candles that burnt of sandalwood and Egyptian musk.

"Oh Logan..." Marie cried out her need as he tread dangerously upon her, his bare hands running down her back.

To feel his fingers trail down her sides as his thumbs trailed her spine, he straddled the tub in everyway she wanted him to take her. Feeling his hands on her hips, his thumbs following down below to brush the growing swell of her sassy southern ass...or so Jubilee liked to tease her...time could have stopped as she waited expectant of her new intoxication. Against her belly his fingers fell, up unto her breasts that he held to tease and trap her nipples between them.

Nearly losing her glass between her trembling, shaky fingers, Marie set it down and held against the tub just to keep from slipping beneath the steamy water. As always before, the intoxicating flush of someone else flowed into her, but with Logan it brought an untamed beast. Slipping her hands into the tub, she started to tease herself so he'd be free to carry on his worship of her.

To feel him straddle her as she wanted it was too easy imagine that moment she longed to know. Feeding the flame that burned in her belly so it might engulf her, he helped with how he ground against her, his breath hot and fast at her neck as he laid with her in the tub. Lightning lanced through her as finally she came to the feel of his weighty frame bearing down on her, every rock of his hips sending another wave rising up her back to wash over the edge of their bath.

"Holy shit..." Breathless, thirsty and dizzy, she found her forgotten drink for a sip and drained it in a single swallow.

"Took longer..." Logan whispered, nuzzling his nose at her ear.

"...what?"

His answer was the brush of his fingers at her lips, parting them with his thumb so he could feel her teeth against it. Licking it to savour the salty taste, it fuelled her imagination of what it would be to trace every chiselled edge of magnificent chest with her tongue, to lave against his abs until she found the wild mane of his manhood.

"This..." Logan whispered, pressing his lips to her shoulder until the sting came, "...took longer."

His words stole the last of her strength, her glass shattering against the damp tiles of the bathroom. Struggling against him so she might confront whether he was lying or not, he held her against the tub with a whisper of comforting words until the fight was out of her.

"How much longer?" Marie croaked, hating her tears born from how afraid she was to succumb to her swelling hope.

"Ten Mississippi."

"Ten...?"

"Ten."

Stunned, she couldn't resist as he gathered her up in his arms. It wasn't to his bed but to to that old armchair of his he took her, wrapping her up in a towel he had snatched on the way. Sitting there in the safety and warmth of terrycloth, she counted her Mississippi's plus ten unto twenty-four.

"Damned near half a minute now." Marie said with a delighted laugh.

"Lets see if we can't get that number up enough so we can have some fun after the foreplay."

If only she weren't so shaken from the sudden revelation she might have indulged in a bit of foreplay herself, brushing a finger against his rigid length that laid beneath his jeans. To hear him grunt from her touch was gasoline thrown against her own inflamed arousal.

"How many Mississippi's?" Finding courage from the effect she had over him as she playfully stroked him, Marie grew bolder the lustier his eyes grew.

"Why don't ya keep count for me sometime..."

It was too much of a temptation as she reached for the brass button that bound his fly, feeling slightly disappointed as he guided her hand away in a surprising act of self-control. Staring at his bed that held her scent from the night before, her own satisfied purr surprised her as she thought of how she had marked it as hers.

"Sweet dreams hun, looks like ya got something other than sheep to count tonight. But I'll take ya up on that offer another time..."

"Yer leaving?"

"There ain't enough Mississippi's and I'm not havin' ya sleeping in this ol' chair again."

It was a delightful struggle to fight against him, sharing one last kiss as she treated him to everything he might need before settling down for a goodnights sleep. Darkening his door dressed only in a towel, it was Logan who treated her to the very eyeful he'd joked about before in a tear of his zipper. Slamming the door shut just a bit too loudly, her bed called to her with the promise of very pleasant dreams to see her to the dawn.

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"Is that morning wood, or are you just happy to see me?"

Giggling at Bishop's grimace, Jubilee approved of his sleep wear or the lack thereof. Dressed the same as she had the night before last, Rogue had channelled her inner Logan all too well and tucked her in. Looking off to her beanbag that Wolvie liked to use as his doggy bed, that he hadn't woken her said that Wolvie liked Bishop and that was good enough for her.

"We missed our nightcap." Bishop whispered as he held her.

"Yeah, well I had one too many with the girls so that's cool. I didn't get drunk...just really tipsy. How did you and Logan make out? Not that you made out, at least ya better not have cuz ya know I got dibs right?"

"A few too many, but...I heard what I needed to hear."

"Awesome, you can tell me all about it over coffee. But maybe we could get that to go as I gotta take Wolvie for his morning walkie. Ya know, potty doodie?"

"You jog?"

"Only if a sales ending. I kid, I kid. 'Cept that I only jog when the sun's going down, not up." Burying her face against his chest, the thought of running around at the crack of dawn like Kitty or Jean was sacrilege.

"I guess it's a walk then." Bishop conceded with a deep chuckle.

"Spiffy, but that still means we gotta get outta bed, and you're not wearing any pants...or, anything actually. But I'm cool if you're cool."

Surprised by his boldness as he tore away her blanket, Jubilee snuggled closer to him as a chill crept into her from her cozy warm cocoon being stolen from her.

"Whoa, okay I was going to get up!" Squealing as she was picked up and carried off to her en suite bath, he gently set her down in her cramped staff shower. Admiring his physique among other enticing attributes, Jubilee took a couple steps back to make room for him, "I'll wash your back if you wash mine."

"You're shameless." Bishop said with a weary shake of his head, taking her up on the invitation just the same.

"Life's too short to worry about who saw who naked. Now just stand right here while I get this shower going..."

Laughing as he caught the first cold blast before the spray settled into a muscle soothing warmth, she rewarded him with a wet T-shirt contest of one that then turned into a saucy striptease. By the time she was au natural she didn't have to guess whether it was morning wood any longer.

"Wow, just...damn. I might need me a cold shower after this one."

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	18. Chapter 18

Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made from this work.

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"I never knew Ro meditated."

"Oh she hated it at first, Charles thought a Zen approach might help her find her much needed control. It was only after Logan took over that she found her centre, up until then the weather was...unpredictable." Thinking fondly of those days, Jean drew the blinds to bath their borrowed loft in darkness.

"Logan taught Ro to meditate?" As much as she loved the man, only recently realizing the depths those feelings, Marie couldn't imagine him sitting lotus to clear his mind of all distraction.

"It surprised me too, it seems he spent some time overseas. Tempted as I was to dig for details, I let him have his secrets. There was always a sadness to him when he thought of Japan..."

Lighting a few candles as Marie flipped through Ororo's collection of records, cds, and even a few favourite tapes that had endured, she thought of the tales the walls could tell if they could only talk.

"How old where you when ya first met Logan...?"

"Fifteen, but that was only after he finally got back from another of his wanderings. It was just Scott, Ororo, Kurt and myself back then. I had called the school home for almost a year by the time he drove on up on his Harley, he and Scott hit it right off with their shared love of bikes." And there was the look she had expected, sheer slack-jawed disbelief.

"Your tellin' me Logan and Scott used to be buds?"

"Friends are often the best rivals, just look at Charles and Erik. Something tells me they've buried the hatchet, Logan and Scott, don't you agree?" Stroking her wedding ring, Jean enjoyed the sublime smile that set Marie aglow as she thought of Logan.

Surrendering to the old temptation to peek, visions of nights past left her feeling an absolute voyeur as she tightened up her shields, blushing horribly as she hid her smile behind a hand. To see Marie looking so embarrassed as she always did when she caught herself projecting, Jean shook her head and sought to find the words to set her at ease.

"Oh it wasn't you, it was me. Memories like those are just so warm they're nearly irresistible not to have a peek at. Of course there was a time I didn't have a choice..."

The oft toted memory lane was a street littered with dark allies and filthy gutters, and thinking of the girl she'd been yet only fourteen who had found a family among misfits, Jean blinked away the bitter memories to find the one she was to be helping holding her hand in silent sympathy.

"You don't normally talk about yourself..." Marie whispered with a hopeful smile tempered by the understanding in her eyes, they all had their stories they'd rather not tell if just to avoid remembering them again.

"With how much we'll be talking about you today, maybe it's only fair to let you get a few questions of your own answered."

"I thought you were teachin' me to meditate?" Smirking with a lopsided grin, Marie looked to Jean to explain herself.

"To start with, but what I'm really after is teaching you a new awareness of yourself. Ten Mississippi was a good start, but lets see if we can't do better?"

Of those recollections and memories the warmest of them had been of the moment Logan had kindle a tiny flame of hope born from his fearlessness to touch the one he loved and notice what she hadn't for how he distracted her. It was a flame Jean hoped to nurture in Marie as a confidence so bright it would blind them for how strongly it burned.

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However comfortable the study of Charles Xavier's was, a history of lectures concerning her antics left Jubilee feeling thirteen all over again whenever she had to spend any more time in it than was needed to pass along a message. Curled on Bishop's lap, the fact that Hank and Logan were there cranked up her anxious mood.

"...when ya said you wanted to talk to the Prof about your nightmares I kinda thought it'd be a private session on the couch." Jubilee whispered with a grumpy frown.

Puzzled to see Kitty joining along with the Professor, Jubilee looked between the gathered wholly suspicious. At least with how confused Kitty looked she was just as in the dark about whatever Bishop had to talk about.

"Thank you all for coming." Settling at his desk, Charles looked from Logan to Hank as if wondering who of them should start, "What we're about to discuss is something better kept private."

"And this is gonna be pretty fucking hard to swallow, but we're tellin' you the truth." Logan added, ignoring every rule and protocol the school had as he lit up his cigar.

Sharing a surprised look with Kitty, Jubilee realized she wasn't alone in wondering if the Professor was going to have to carry out his threat of making Logan think he was a six year old girl for an afternoon...because that was pretty disturbing image.

"It would seem roughly ten years from now the world was to be embroiled in a war of extermination against our kind that knew no border, and with a choice between termination or enslavement those left fighting were availed of a third option. To go back to the tipping point and set the balance of history in our favour..." Hank said as if for Kitty alone.

"Wait, wait! You can't mean...I mean I trust your math above anyone's Hank, but it was all just theory!" Kitty sputtered with a nervous smile that told of her disbelief.

"I lost count of the times you sent me back to save us from the Sentinels, travelling back days to a week at most to warn that they found us. It let us stay ahead of them..." Bishop said as solemnly as if he were giving a eulogy.

Lost to herself as she looked inwards to the implications, Kitty stumbled blindly to the couch and found herself pulled into a hug. Butting heads with her brainy friend, Jubilee slipped between her and Bishop.

"Wanna fill me in Kit Kat?" Jubilee asked with her eyes begging to be let in on the conversation.

"Theorycrafting about what I can do with some practice, and what I might be able to do. Stuff like ghosting free from the grip of the Earth to travel at the flipping speed it's travelling at, roughly a thousand miles an hour." A stunt Kitty was terrified to even attempt, "Craziest of all was the possibility of sending a consciousness back through time, but sending them back too far would tear their mind apart, unless..."

"Unless ya had someone handy at putting himself back together." Logan supplied, staring squarely at Kitty.

"You...I did this?"

"They weren't nightmares?" Jubilee asked, worriedly looking up to Bishop to see him nod at her.

"That's all they are now, nightmares."

"But, but you they just said it's real. What did you do Wolvie?" Her eyes glistening with unspent tears, Jubilee started at Logan to make sense of it all, to give her a straight answer.

"Went back and stopped it before it could start, got Chuck, Hank, even Erik on board...after hauling his ass out of the Pentagon. But history speaks for it self, eh?"

Struck silent by the implications, Kitty curled on the couch with her feet tucked under herself and pulled Jubilee into a needy hug. It was all too much to take in, to think that theory and esoteric equations scribbled on a blackboard had been proven right decades before she had even been born.

"Why don't I remember anything?" Kitty asked.

"It seems only those who had been sent back have, and even then we hadn't expected Bishop to recall anything of the changing timelines." Hank supplied with a weary shrug as he confessed his own ignorance of an answer.

"Shit, where's Wolvie. I think I need to take a walk." Stumbling to her shaky feet, Jubilee offered her hand to Bishop, "Feel like some fresh air? Lil stuffy in here..."

Accepting the invitation without a word, Bishop followed after the very lady who had offered to be his anchor. Yet as she left Logan felt her eyes on him as she spared a glance over her shoulder and knew he had a date with the little lady to answer a few more questions. Flicking ash into a stale cup of coffee, he looked to Kitty and offered her his sympathy as the door closed.

"I'm guessing you just got back around the time you started acting kinda loopy, during that extra clingy phase you had with Rogue a few months back?" Offering a lopsided smile as she curled in on herself, Kitty started at Logan as he mulled over her question.

"Took a while for everything to sink in, had to get to know myself again and I'm not sure who I mean. The fella you all grew up with, or the fella that came back from the war."

Shaking her head as she sucked back a hissed breath, Kitty climbed to her feet and fell against him for a hug he readily offered. Resting her chin at his chest so she could stare up at Logan, it was no stranger that stared back at her and that was all she needed to see.

"I hope we never have to do that again..."

"You and me both pipsqueak."

Stumbling back so she could snatch a tissue to dry her eyes, Kitty found her composure in all the questions that had been raised. Looking sidelong at Hank, he offered her his hand.

"I'm sure you're wondering at the theories I've been hypothesising at for all this time, yes? How about we retire to my lab for a cup of coffee and perhaps a Twinkie or two that I might illuminate you on them."

"Solve for X? X being time travel is real, I can't wait to see this."

Lingering with Charles as the brain trust left, Logan thought of a lady he owed to tell the truth. He didn't want any secrets between them, and one bad nightmare hinted that they'd be impossible to keep anyway.

"Who else do you think we owe an explanation to?" Logan asked with a look to Charles.

"That is quite the question now isn't it? Bishop needed for Jubilee to know, and as for Kitty I believe it was high time she learn fully just what she is capable of. I take it you're going to tell Marie?"

"Gonna have to help her understand the mess o' ugly up in this ol' head, I ain't keepin' secrets from her.."

That was a promise he wasn't about to go and break, and she sure as hell wasn't some wilting rose that needed to be coddled and protected. She was plenty tough enough to deal with the truth.

"I think I'll trust Bishop and yourself to tell those who you feel need to know, it was you two who lived it after all. If you need any help you know where to find me. Now if you'll excuse me, I've some grading to do."

Leaving Charles to his grading and likely a scotch or two, a walk didn't sound to bad but a ride sounded better. Thinking to make a date of it, he headed off to the garage to go give his bike a detailing.

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"Open your eyes."

Lost to the music and memories talked about, Marie breathed deep the scent of lilac and jasmine as she did as asked. Sitting cross-legged with Jean opposite of her, she felt a jolt the familiar jolt of her questionable gift drawing at the vitality and everything else that made Jean who she was, powers and all. Suddenly the room wasn't so quiet as the chatter of unshielded thoughts hung there for her to listen to.

Remembering seldom used lessons, she built a wall about herself and soon the multitude of thoughts that hung like conversations in a busy mall fell silent. Clenching her fists as she looked to Jean, she was met with a warm smile that whispered two little words, _good girl_.

"I guess I kinda screwed up."

"Actually, I lost count of my Mississippi's. You were two songs in until I asked you to open your eyes..."

"Two...?" If ten Mississippi had stunned her, two songs left Marie breathless.

"...Songs." Jean assured with a beatific smile.

"H, how?!"

"I might have cheated a little, I gave your psyche a little nudge so you wouldn't notice when I touched you. I hate myself now for not letting you come back on your own from wherever your thoughts had wandered, I keep wondering how long it might have taken for you to notice."

"Two songs..."

"Shall we try with you paying attention this time?" Jean asked, offering her hand without any hint of hesitation.

Finding her courage, Marie reached out with a focus on herself, not thinking of how Jean's hand felt but instead how her own hand felt as Jean gently entwined their fingers together. One Mississippi two and more she counted, feeling the warmth and the slight sweat that built between them. Dressed down to little more than her bra and panties, the room was warm from all the candles that burned and heady with the aroma of incense.

And there it was, the temptation that Jean had spoken of, the luxurious warmth that she just wanted to wrap herself in. It was Jean opening herself up so she might share what words were just too clumsy to tell. It was joy and happiness and hope mingled together with a giddy burst of anxious anticipation, and like the ripples a skipped stone one moment lead to another such one until Marie felt her own hot tears roll down her cheeks as she lived the moment Scott said two little words, _I do_.

"Oh my god..." Surprised she had any breath left, Marie looked to the very ring that rest against her own finger and lived the moment Scott had slipped it upon Jean to make her his wife.

"Eighty Three Mississippi..."

And like a word to break a spell, Marie felt the same old jolt again that filled her with shame.

"Don't do that, because I want you to know how proud I am of you Marie." Kindly chastising her with a tutting tongue, Jean ducked her head down so she could meet Marie from her downcast gaze.

"But every time I think about it..."

"Then stop thinking about it."

"It ain't that easy!" Marie snapped with venom in her voice, angry at herself more than anyone.

"I know, heavens I know. Where do you think a girl who claims she's hearing voices ends up? And I'm not saying that as if I've suffered more than you, I just want you to know I understand how hard it is..."

"I should be happy, god I couldn't get more than fifteen seconds, maybe twenty back when I first got here..."

Back when everyone was afraid of getting too close to her, except for one boy who made her feel special. Just thinking of Bobby she could remember all those frosty kisses that left him a little flushed and flustered after.

"Don't forget that this is our first session in years, and look at you!" Jean cheered, resting a finger at Marie's chin so she could coax her gaze up.

Doing just that, what she saw left her thinking Logan wouldn't mind having a peek himself. Laughing to herself, Marie let everything Jean had said sink in. Forget her Mississippi's, she was up to two songs...all she had to do was figure out how to get back there.

"I think I know the answer to that too." Jean said with a chuckle.

"Snoop." Marie teased.

"I won't bother explaining it as Hank would, but it comes down to this. Your manifestation was a traumatic one, and when you ran away from home you were scared. Deep down I think you could at least take some comfort from knowing if anyone tried to touch you in anyway you didn't want that they wouldn't be doing it for long."

Biting back all the harsh words that welled up at what felt like an accusation that it was all her fault, Marie waited and watched as Jean chose her next words carefully.

"I had my doubts at first, but I think Logan is just perfect for you. You love him, you have for years even if it's only now turned away from that friendly love it once was. You also know you can't hurt him, not without trying. Most of all you trust each other, and I think that's what you need to feel safe again. And not just that, but to feel safe around the people in your life that you've always had to worry about hurting."

"What do ya mean?" It was all too confusing to hear Jean say all this about Logan after all the years he spent flirting with her, carrying that torch that had kept him from the wedding itself.

"I mean I'm giving you some homework, and that I'll be here whenever you need me. Even still, for as much progress as we've made I think Logan will be the one to really help you."

"Homework?"

Reaching into her pocket, Jean pulled out a little sip of folded paper and passed it across. Opening it, Marie felt her eyes go wide as she read what it was.

"A prescription for birth control!?"

"For the long term, yes. While your getting it filled I don't think a box of condoms would be a bad idea either. In fact it might open an opportunity with a little creativity. Don't mistake this as my saying you should rush into anything, I simply want you to be ready if...something does happen in the heat of the moment."

"Gawd Jeannie, I don't know if I should be mortified or hug ya?!" Marie guffawed, her face burning almost as red as Jean's hair.

Settling for a quick hug, it was an end to her session that Marie had never imagined. Two songs was her new best, and a lot could happen in two songs.

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"You've been quiet..." Bishop whispered.

Staring at the stars above, Jubilee smiled from the concern in his voice. Warm and content as she was caught between him at her back and Wolvie curled up with her, their walk had lasted through the afternoon and into the evening. It was spent talking about anything other than what was on her mind, asking him about his life in the world as she knew it while sharing her own stories.

"Oops, busted. Would you believe that's how most people ask me what's wrong?"

"I can." Rubbing his thumbs at her side, a ticklish spot had her giggling as he tormented her.

"Careful bub, don't make me sick Wolvie on ya. I got two to pick from." Cracking an eye at hearing his name, Wolvie gave a jowl snapping yawn that left him merrily panting upon his mistress.

"Maybe I shouldn't have told you..."

"You're lucky I can't smack you right now! Lemme just say bottling that shit up can't be healthy, I mean I still gotta kick Logan's ass for doing it. But it's like they say, admitting you got a problem is the first step, 'cept I guess that's for addicts and alcoholics."

To feel his rich, deep laugh shake his chest soothed her own anxious worries almost as much as his arms that held her against him.

"What has you so quiet?"

Pursing her lips with a sigh, he was entitled to an answer after opening up to her like he had. He could have gone to anyone, all the people he knew from that messed up...everything, but he'd confessed his nightmare to her after she bullied him into a nightcap.

"My parents died in a car crash, they'd gone out for dinner and I was supposed to go with them. Instead I went to CynJenn's to watch a movie. So the family dinner became a date. Maybe they had a bottle of wine with it...or two..." Playing with her pup's ears to keep from crying, Jubilee found her breath past the lump in her throat, "I used to always wonder what would have happened if I'd just gone with them, guess I know the answer to that since I wasn't in your nightmare."

Shooing Wolvie off his mistress with a pat to tell of no hard feelings, Bishop scooped Jubilee up into his arms to hold her that he might look her in her teary eyes.

"There's no point in thinking about everything you could have done different, we're here now and there's no place I'd rather be."

Hefting her up with a surge of strength that had her bounce in his arms, Bishop kissed her with a passion he didn't know he had, kissed her as he had never kissed anyone before her. As they parted he saw something new in her eyes he had never seen before, a puzzling unknown that had his heart ache from the thought of ever letting her go, and so he didn't for the entire walk back to the school.

Their missed dinner was to be taken in bed with a nightcap, finding in her eyes the boldness to surrender to her advances. It was an evening to practice their kissing and learn another by touch alone, every ticklish place to be treasured for her laughter he could call with a gentle, playful brush of his fingers that left her gasping and breathless.

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	19. Chapter 19

 

 

 

 

Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made from this work.

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On the verge of knocking, Marie smiled at the old habit and everything Logan had to say on the matter. Walking in unannounced, it wasn't the eyefull she had hoped for but the view wasn't half bad. Dressed in an old grease stained muscle shirt and ratty, worn out Levi's, he looked fresh off a tune up and detailing if the scent of polish was anything to go by.

"Just how I like to find my man, sweaty and messy..."

Her man, and what a man he was, looking plenty amused and probably on the same page as her. There was no point pussyfooting anymore, not with the scrap of paper she had in her back pocket, and not after everything Jean had said.

"And here I was about to snag a shower after doin' a tune up and putting a polish on my bike, I had a mind to ask a lady if she was up for a ride."

There it was, all the sweat of his brow was for her. Walking up in a sway of hips, she knelt into his old armchair to trap him between her thighs. Enough of Jean lingered that she felt herself undressed with his eyes that looked back to their first night together, heaving a deep breath so the fabric of her baby tee grew taut to feed his fantasies. Taking his hands in hers, she guided them so his thumbs hooked in her back pockets, enjoying the feel of his hands and their kneading touch.

"And just where did ya have in mind?"

"Who needs a destination? Only reason I need to go fer a ride is to have you pressed up against me, holdin' on for dear life for every tight turn and straight away."

Grasping her arse in his strong grip, Logan pulled her close enough that she could feel his breath against her breast. Through lidded eyes she lost herself to his lust, to the feel of his hands against her and the press of her own bucking hips as they rocked against him. To feel Logan's very wants and needs as if they were her own left her envious of Jean, wondering what heights she had experienced upon the consummation of her marriage.

"What's this?"

To hear the crinkle of paper broke the spell and brought her back from the edge of surrendering to him, snatching his hands in her own to hold them at her backside. It was a war of wills to keep the little scrap of paper Jean had given her away from him, the more she fought the harder he did to satisfy his own curiosity.

"Hah!" Marie cheered as he let her have her secrets, tucking the folded piece of paper away beneath the cleft of her breasts in a disappearing act with an entranced audience of one.

"If yer tryin' to stop me you're goin' about it the wrong way." Grinning at her with a feral flash of teeth, he brushed them at the hem of her shirt to tug and pull and expose her ever more.

His nose nuzzling her as it never before had was torment, his every snort of breath tickling her as she laughed and giggled, warm and hot from his every hungry breath that drew in her scent. Delving a hand between her belly and his broad chest, she found his hardened self rigid beneath her to grasp at it as if it were her studs very reins. His hot chuff of breath burst against her breasts with the snap of her shirt, his eyes dark and stormy as he stared up beneath the rise and fall of her chest.

Balanced upon the tipping point of her indecision, a ragged breath would be all it'd take to set the scales tumbling down into the fevered fog she struggled against. Sucking a cool breath, she stumbled back from the brink and fell out of his chair. For how close they had been neither could summon the words to say anything beyond a grunt and a nod for a long moment.

"I'll go get my helmet..." Marie choked out.

"I'll get a shower..." Whether a cold one to rein in his beast, or one steamy and hot so he could count off his own Mississippi's she didn't know.

Surging to his feet to tower over her, she could still feel every detail of his bulge standing against his jeans, clenching her fist at the memory of how it throbbed at her touch.

Playing the gentleman he helped her up, her legs weak and unsteady as she breathed in the smell of grease, gasoline and everything else he'd picked up from the garage. Her mind ran with fantasies all her own, a damsel in distress with a broke down car and him her saviour in tied off overalls and soot blackened hands, the only collateral she could offer a kiss that would lead to more...

"...I'll meet ya down at the garage."

A heartbeat away from stepping away, Marie cursed herself and lived for the moment, snatching his hair in her hard grasp to haul him down for a fast and furious kiss. One Mississippi two, she teased his tongue with her own to urge him to deepen depths. Sucking breath between her teeth, his lip caught between her pearly whites, her eyes made a promise in parting as she fell away from him.

Stumbling into the hall with the slamming of his door, Jean had worried about the heat of the moment but only now did Marie realize how fast and hot that fire could burn after such a sensual spark. "Fuck..."

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Rolling his neck from the fatigue of a day spent herding cats, Scott wandered back to his office with a much needed cup of coffee. Dinner sat cold and forgotten under the foil a student had been so thoughtful to wrap it in. Hardly more than a few steps in the door slammed shut with the latching of the lock by unseen hands. Darkness reigned as he tried the light switch to find it stubbornly stuck off.

"Is this your way of telling me I should come to bed?"

Laughter he knew as well as his own danced in the darkness that was soon banished with the crack and hiss of a match, and there she was, a shadowy silhouette drifting from one candle to the next until she stood before him. A puff of breath snuffed the dwindling flame she held between them, bathed in the fluttering candlelight that danced to a phantom minstrel.

As he looked on her he saw she was not dressed for bed...or at least nothing so peaceful as a nights rest. His eyes fell in admiration of a daring string bikini and the sheer sarong that hugged her hips, fell to the satisfied smile set upon her lips as she met his weighty gaze.

"You're overdressed for Hawaii..." Jean cooed, delicately unbuttoning his shirt until her fingers fell to his belt, hastily unbuckling it to tear it free with a snap that sent shivers down his back.

"And here I thought I we were going to compromise on a floatplane and island hopping in the south Pacific."

Drawn into a kiss with his belt brought against his neck, Scott surrendered to the demanding passion that ever thrilled and shocked him. In her avian eyes he felt little more than prey, coughing as his belt was tied about his throat as a leash to bind him to her will.

"I want my Hawaiian honeymoon. I want days spent lazing on the beach with cabana boys at my beckon call, and I want for our evenings to be...well, perhaps it would be best for me to show you what you can look forward to..."

Given a choice between choking or submitting, Scott let himself be led to his desk. With a flippant wave of her hand it was made bare, all his grading made a mess upon the floor as she primly sat upon it with her legs neatly crossed. Her gaze was one wrought with disapproval as she looked on him, remembering in that moment he was overdressed for Hawaii.

Throwing his shirt to the floor with his slacks, everything else was cast off with a tumbling toss of his shoes over his shoulder. Bare to her as he had been on their wedding night, he didn't have to help her with her gown this evening. Tugging at one neatly tied bow and then the other, he took her hips in hand as he advanced upon her.

"Hawaii?" Jean asked once more, her own questioning gaze turned back on her in the reflection of his glasses.

"Hawaii..." Scott promised, he was foolish to ever think otherwise.

Surging forth with all the strength her sweet smile afforded him, Scott trapped her against his desk as she yielded to him. By the tugging of his leathery leash he answered her every mewling cry and desirable demand just to feel her frantic breath against his sweat slick skin. Her nails drawn down his back were welts for the morning, the fiery pain of every scratch only adding to the seductive heights she led him to.

Brought low by every wrap of leather she twined about her hand, their Honeymoon was sworn upon with a kiss and the promise of evenings vying to outdo this very moment. What had roused his wife to such frantic desire he didn't know, but as he looked into her eyes Scott only wished she could see his abject adoration of her.

Instead he stepped back from his own nearly slaked thirst to slow his pace with his every thrust to find her in the haze, feeling her pleasure as his own through the rapport between them and ride out that cresting wave to a climax that left them weak and sweaty against his desk.

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She came, a climax born of the rumbling engine she road and the feel of his taut ass she curled against, feeling his smug satisfaction as he finally slowed from the breakneck speeds he had pushed them to from one tight turn to the next. Every crested hill was a moment of weightlessness that tickled her belly until she slammed hard against him as twin tires bit at asphalt for traction.

Marie couldn't tell where she was, other than that the view was beautiful and the stars above were nothing against the dazzling lights that had blinded her as he drove her beyond her pleasurable brink and beyond. Holding tight to Logan lest she fall, she had no strength left as he helped her down.

Yet a misstep still sent them tumbling together into the dirt, a happy accident as she laid upon him with his arms holding her close and dear. He caught her as she knew he'd always catch her, so she didn't bother fighting against the dumb smile that tugged at her lips. Feeling her own frantic heart patter against the steady pace of his, the ticklish touch of his thumbs tugged at the hem of her jeans even as she leaned in for a kiss.

"Pretty proud of yourself, ain't ya?" Smug as he looked, Logan had every reason to be confident.

"Ain't seen nothing yet, babe."

Content as she was to lay there with him, safe and warm in his arms, she rose up and splayed her hands against his chest to feel his every breath as it rose from his swollen breast. He was hungry for her scent, this she knew, ripe with her release and the dampness that ran cold against her legs.

"Two songs."

His eyes were abysmal depths of desire trapped between a slight band of steely blue and ivory. Roving her hands up his chest, his neck, and to his stubble strewn cheeks, she cupped them and fell into his gaze until her nose brushed his.

"Oh my gawd, you think I'm talkin' about a lap dance!"

Surging against him to gain a safe distance from the darkness she so longed to delve into, her bashful embarrassment was forgotten at his trailing touch down her side. Dancing to a music born of the thunder that beat in her ears and the tinkling of a hot muffler, Marie guided his hands to her hips that he could hold her as she swayed to and fro.

"Two songs with Jeannie, she lost count o' the Mississippi's by the time it kicked in..."

"Thinkin' o' the two of you touchin' bare skin to bare skin ain't helping me much, Darlin'."

Feeling a jealous fire burn within her breast, it turned to a smoldering heat that she pressed against him with her chest laid against his. She couldn't feel jealous of Jean anymore, not after everything she had done, and especially now knowing that it was a snuffed torch that Logan carried with him no more.

She had seen it in his eyes since he'd come back, love yes...but the same as he held for Jubilee or Clarice, a love of family and friend. It was a candle against the bonfire that blazed in his gaze, for her and her alone, as she looked into his dark depths again.

"Why do I get the fellin' you had somethin' you wanted to talk to me about?"

Every time he'd ever left her, left them all, he'd taken her for a bike ride to promise he'd be coming back. Only tonight his eyes had in them a promise she hadn't ever known before, one she needed to hear as she hovered her lips so near to his.

"Always time tomorrow to talk about it, now ain't the time."

"Promise?" Doe eyed and curious, his kiss swore she could ask him again about it in the morrow.

Settling against him with her ear at his breast, the steady and strong beat of his heart lulled her to sleep. The night was long enough for a nap before their ride back. Through a shuffle and scuffle as he fought to tug off his jacket, trapped as he was beneath her, Logan wrapped her up in the warmth of his leather that held the scent of aftershave and exhaust for her to enjoy.

And in the heavens above a star fell without a wish, as Logan already had everything a man could ever ask for. Friends, a foundling family, and a love to keep him warm at night whether they shared a bed or not. Time was something he finally had on his side, so he could be patient in his anticipation of that night to come when he would know his Rogue in his arms to meet the morning dawn with.

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	20. Chapter 20

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made from this work.

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Dragged from her dreams, Clarice woke to a warmth she never yet had, or at least never like this, because sleep overs with Jubilee didn't count. Smiling sleepily, James looked down on her with his eyes deep and dark. Thinking on everything that made him the man he was, Clarice brushed her fingers at his side, tracing out the contours of his hardened muscles. A shiver she hadn't expected gave her pause, all until his gentle touch cupped her chin in hand, urging her to be bolder as he pressed a soft and tender kiss to her lips.

"I like this..." Clarice whispered as she pressed a kiss to his chin, feeling the bristly stubble that cast his strong jaw in a sensual shadow.

James was a treat of touch she shyly explored, finding enough courage to force him down against her bed, laying atop him so she could brace herself against his broad chest, straddling him to enjoy the view from atop. His heart hammered steadily beneath her hand, his every breath the rising swell of an irresistible tide that sought to drag her deep below all her timid reservations.

"And I could get used to this." James groaned, his voice gravely and low as he sought to speak in the hushed tones the moment begged for, the dim lighting enticing them to tumble back into a welcome slumber filled with heady dreams.

Feeling his touch at her hips, holding her possessively against him, Clarice mewled her approval, whimpering as his thumbs tickled the small of her back, biting her lip hard against the laughter that bubbled up from deep within her belly. The darkness in his eyes became predatory, his smile a playful grin as he now became the one to be bolder still. Up her sides he searched, rewarded with a snort of laughter that sputtered free at last, but it was her gasp his eyes drank up, cupping her petite breasts in the palm of his hands.

She might as well have been weightless as she trusted James not to let her fall, freed to explore the etched muscles that made his forearms so alluring, imagining herself wrapped up in his arms as to be trapped against his chest, marking her as his with a hug that dared anyone look at her for too long.

"Lower..." Clarice begged, her wish his command as she hovered just out of reach of his lips, "...lower."

Holding his wrists with a grasp she couldn't wholly embrace, she teased him twice before satisfying herself, brushing her nose at his before grazing her chin at his stubble rough cheek. Surrendering to the warmth of his breath at last, his lips were warmer still, yet this paled against the heat that left her cheeks flushed and blushing.

Feeling her roused peaks rolled and pinched, her heart raced with anticipation and want, struggling to let loose a choked and hitched gasp that died in her throat at the feel his own telltale rigid and stiff flesh, trapped as it was beneath her as she straddled him.

"James..." ... _I can't, not yet_.

Feeling timid and shy against this beast of a man she had invited into her bed, Clarice closed her eyes tightly, dreading to see his disappointment. Her world shifted in the darkness, laid gently against his chest, claimed in his arms as she had but moments before imagined.

He called to her with a touch at her cheek, feeling next her lashes brushed so softly as to tempt her open her eyes, finally feeling a kiss dot the very tip of her nose in a wash of his ragged breath, "I just said I could get used to this, who said I was already tired of it?"

A laugh that tickled her belly broke free to echo in the hushed quiet of her bedroom, shaking her head at all her foolish and silly little worries. Opening her eyes, Clarice found his waiting of her, wondering just what she must look like to him, what he felt of her with his every touch, his every breath...

"You're beautiful." James whispered, running his fingers through her lavender tresses and locks.

"No one's ever called me that before..." ...no one except him, it was always pretty, always cute, but never beautiful.

"Someone should have by now, but I'm glad I could be the first..."

With her vision gone hazy from the sheen of unspent tears that left her eyes glistening in the dim light, Clarice felt her heart ache to know what it meant to be looked on by one who thought she was beautiful. And from that pain that held her heart in it's tight grasp, she promised to herself other firsts she would freely surrender to James, all after they traveled that labyrinth together that led to one undeniable confession.

That it really was love they felt to pull them so close that she couldn't tell the beat of his heart from her own, lying atop him content and safe in his arms. Slumbering again, her dreams were pleasant and sweet, content to let James enjoy her waking again and again, and for as many times it took to see them ready for an evening to burn away the innocence they clung to that kept things safe.

Sweet and safe was all they needed for now, they had their whole lives ahead after all, there was plenty of time left to explore the sensual and erotic, and the rough and randy feelings that preyed on them in those desirable and dark moments of twilight.

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"Clarice, put your face...oh...okay, I guess I'll skip up to the part where we're goin' shopping." Marie found herself laughing, even if she was wondering just where Clarice had been planning on going.

"You had me at shopping! Where we going?"

Wondering if it was his mistress that _Wolvie_ got the knack from being in the right place and at the right time for some primo begging, Jubilee skipped into view to look like Clarice's twin sister, with the kind of lavender hair that screamed temporary.

"...where the heck were you two planning on going? Huh?" Suspicious, thy name was Marie, squinting at Clarice in particular.

That was a trick she'd learnt from Logan, that being to home in on Clarice first if her and Lee were together, needing to know the truth pronto like. It was a little mean, and while Clarice obviously was able to keep a secret, she had a few tells that a person in the know might be able to spot.

"...the pharmacy, and then maybe..." Mumbling the rest in an embarrassed whisper, Clarice blushed bright red enough to paint her lilac cheeks purple.

"Enough about us and where we may or may not be going. Where you planning on taking us, huh?" Classic Lee, redirecting the conversation away from Clarice when they had a secret between the two of them.

"I gotta go on down to the pharmacy to go get a 'script filled." Flashing a little telltale piece of paper from the desk of Doctor Grey, there weren't many times Marie could remember leaving either Lee or Clarice speechless.

"...huh, that's what Clarice is runnin' on down to town for too. Small world." Of course Speechlessness was as to Lee as an eclipse was to the Sun, damn rare and short lived.

"Jubilee!" Clarice hissed with all the embarrassed fury of a lady ready to drop her _Sister from another Mister_ straight into the school pool.

Yeah, so, Jubilee was pretty good at turning the tables fast enough that Marie felt a little bit dizzy as she looked to Clarice for an explanation. Too bad for her, there were days that Clarice was good at channelling her inner Jubes to crank up the mischief to max, and this was one of those days. Skipping up with Jubilee following suit, Marie found herself on the wrong end of two very inquisitive ladies out to test an unspoken theory currently being pondered between the two of them.

Apparently there was a term for the attack, something called a _Glomp_ , a cross between a tackle and a hug, and it was something Marie knew Lee and Clarice had a lot of practice with, or so some stories were told about them and their _Wolvie_. Counting out her Mississippi's, there was a secret little part of her that had Marie enjoying the sudden affectionate attack, filled with kisses and pecks and the kind of butted heads and pressed brows that told of how really long it had been since she could enjoy such silly things.

"You can touch!" Jubilee and Clarice squealed, echoing another in near perfect unison.

"God dammit, you two! Git offa me! You're comin' up to the end o' two songs, and that's the best I can do!"

"Ooo, if I knew this was a lap dance, I'd have had you on top of me, Roguey." Sassily grinding her hips, Jubilee tumbled into a fit of belly aching laughter after catching a dose of Marie's impromptu hate for her.

Finding herself still trapped beneath Clarice, she looked up into those startling green eyes that made her own emerald ones seem dull by comparison. Heaving a sigh, she suffered the seconds that led to a moment she couldn't, and wouldn't deny. A wince that twisted her friend's pretty looks into a knot said it was time to let go. Peeking at her reflection, Marie found her skin lilac, her eyes the very green she envied, and her hair lavender, all but for one streak of white that never, ever left.

"Oh hecks no, don't think I don't I know that look!" Marie growled at Jubilee, as Jubilee remained true to herself.

"Oh hecks yes! Ya gotta put your face on, Roguey!" Smiling at her sweetly with a shit eating grin, Jubilee took her by one arm even as Clarice stole her other to leave her trapped between them.

Rolling her eyes, Marie usually hated make up. But maybe just this once she'd let these two brats do her up to the nines. Heck, they'd probably want to take a selfie together afterwards, or snapchat a pic or something. Biting her bottom lip, most of that didn't sound all that bad at the moment...

"Just don't think you're gettin' outta tellin' me just where else we're goin', that part ya mumbled about, my little Miss Ferguson." Most of what she'd gotten from Clarice painted a picture that had way too much James in it for her own comfort, feeling herself like a god damn voyeur.

Suddenly though,  Marie didn't want to know, because she sure as shit knew the look passed between Lee and Clarice. She'd seen it a thousand times before, when Clarice had gone and spit out an idea she was a little shy and unsure about, the kind of thing Jubilee wouldn't let her skip out on once it was given a voice. And as much as she knew she was in for hell, Marie couldn't wipe the grin from her face, because Clarice and Jubilee were the kind of girls who needed each other, and right now she needed them just as much.

They were sisters in the truest sense, often times playing at being twins, and heck if today Marie didn't find herself honoured to join them. Even if it meant having to ' _put on her face'_ just so she could take a trip into town, just so she could get her 'script filled for the kind of pills that a lady took when they knew there was a special fella they wanted to get closer to.

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Rolling his neck, Logan didn't let the kid fool him, James Proudstar was a tough son of a bitch, something he'd learnt a lifetime ago. And just because Proudstar wasn't a Feral like him didn't mean shit, that just made him a man with the kind of sharp senses that didn't miss a thing. Logan had seen more than enough men dig on down through the dirt and detritus supposed civility had laid down over time, he'd seen men search through the bones and the stones of the atavistic ape that walked on two legs, looking for that kind of primal strength that their rage lent them.

Too bad for him, he had gone forgotting just how fast ol' James could be when he wanted, getting on the wrong end of the kind of punch that scored Proudstar first blood. Spitting at to the mat to stain it red, Logan grinned back, licking his lips clean of the crimson that stained them.

"Yer supposed ta say this'll hurt me just as much as it does you before ya go throwin' a punch like that."

"I'm not the one bleeding."

"You might as well be whistling Dixie, 'cause I can smell yer busted knuckles from here."

It was the kind of trash talk meant to keep things interesting, to edge a man on out of the corner. Fast didn't mean shit when you had a man's rhythm, and Logan had James's. Now, that didn't mean the kid wasn't using his face for a speed bag, it just meant he had openings to be exploited. A punch to the ribs and a head butt had James on the ropes. Staggering back to his own corner, Logan let his healing knit up his bloodied face, his busted lip, and the detached retina that had his left eye feeling a might bit heavy.

There wasn't gonna be a bell until one of them decided the round was over, because in bare knuckle boxing it was winner take all, and two lifetimes had seen him the undisputed King of the Cage.

Feeling his heart hammering from the anticipation of a good fight, James wasn't just another bruiser looking to blow off steam, he was something more than human and shit if Logan didn't think he finally had met himself the kind of opponent he'd been looking for years before.

James was that someone he'd once been looking for to serve up the kind of hurt his gut told him he deserved, someone to beat him senseless so he could stop thinking about a past that haunted him his every night. Grinning, that had been a lifetime ago, now all he wanted to find out was the kind of tough bastard Proudstar could be when he got backed into a corner.

"I slept with her, but I didn't _sleep_ with her." James spat blood and a little fuel on the fire with his offhanded remark.

"I never said ya did or ya didn't, I just asked ya to step into the ring for a round."

And as much as he was a man who went looking for the animalistic cues to get past the bullshit, Logan saw James reading him at a glance. Holding his gaze, Logan didn't flinch or blink against the intensity of the eyes that stared back at him. Time was told by the heaving of their chests, and by the sweat that built upon the brow, finally falling as a blinding drop in the eye or as the blown breath that came before the next punch.

"You want to know I can protect her?!" James roared, putting his strength into a punch that skipped out on the ribs in favour for the belly, having Logan taste bile at the back of his throat with a choked cough and pained grunt that vied to be first past his lips.

Ol' Jimmy Howlett haunted him in that moment, _Yer damn right_! Clenching his teeth tightly, Logan put his ghosts to rest and stared up at James, seeing the kid he'd saved from the war to come.

"I wanna know you can protect yourself! Because she sure as hell can't do that if she's gotta worry about you!"

Bones broke beneath his next punch, the pained grunt satisfying the man he'd once been. If it'd been anyone other than Proudstar, he might have felt bad. While maybe not like him, James could take a licking that would have seen people laid up with the kind of gown a person didn't want to go putting on backwards. Walking off injury was how men like them worked, they'd have plenty of time to lick their wounds once the fight was over.

Sweaty, bloody, bruised, but not beaten, they each fell back to their corners. The red stained mat taunted them to get back out there, but staring across it, Logan caught the kid's eyes. There was a nod, one so slight that if his eye hadn't been healed by now, then Logan would have missed it. He had his answer, staggering back to his feet just as James did. Meeting in the middle, if they'd been wearing gloves they would have bumped fists as boxers did, _may the better man win_.

"Hit the shower, Proudstar. I owe ya a burger and a beer."

"Make it a steak." James barked with a laugh as he wiped his sweat damp brow with his forearm.

Laughing hard, he'd never gotten to know this boy back when he'd been cocky enough to call him out like this, "Fine, and I'll make it a pitcher. I reckon there's someone else around here that needs to have a good long talk with ya over a brew anyway."

They all had someone they were looking to protect, Marie, Clarice, and Jubilee alike. Taking his own advice, Logan headed off to the showers having a need of a long and hot one. Just because he healed didn't mean it didn't hurt, and James hadn't pulled his punches from the moment he stepped into the ring. Pressing his brow to the cold tile, all Logan could think about was just how she'd gasp as he pinned her against them to make the most out of two songs.

It was a fantasy for another day, but shit if he wasn't willing to make it soon. Working up a lather across his aching and sore muscles, the feel of his rigid and ready flesh in his hand was something he couldn't ignore. He didn't bother to go keep track of the Mississippi's it took, that was still a promise between him and Marie, one he looked forward to. Remembering the feel of her hand against his heated and hot flesh made easy work of it anyway, grunting out a moments satisfaction that felt like a pale imitation when set against what had him hard in the first place.

"Hurry back, babe." His voice hoarse and weak as he hung his head low in the shower, Logan let the hot spray wash away the sweat and everything else that stained his flesh.

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The pharmacy was the kind of history that left Clarice and her having their 'scripts filled, right up with a quotable quote worthy of Jeopardy. _Uh, duh? Of course I'm already on the pill, you guys honestly thought I wouldn't be? Hello, poster child for impulse control issues here!_ Who is Jubilation Lee...

"Ooo, this one has Bluetooth. That could be fun."

As a gal who'd gone through a very important part of her life thinking a vibrator was going to be her best friend, Marie peeked over Jubilee's shoulder. "There's an app for that?"

"Well, Ima sure as heck gonna find out! Could you imagine Bish finding it on his phone and trying to figure it out? Huh, actually that makes me realize I don't even got his number yet. Well, I know what I'm doing when I get back..."

Biting her lip, everything Lee painted sounded like the naughty bit of fun Logan sure as fuck would be into. Snagging one of the vibrators off the very same rack Jubilee was browsing, she added it to her own cart.

"Go, Roguey!"

Leaving Jubes on her own, Marie started searching for a gal who was a whole heck of a lot shyer than Lee. Colour her surprised to find out it was Clarice who wanted to come to the kind of toy store that advertised _Adults Only_. Spotting a flash of lavender locks, Marie wound her way through a mess of negligee that was damned straight lewd, if just a bit kinda intriguing.

"Massage oil?" Peeking into the shopping basket the elfin girl carried, Marie couldn't help but grin at catching Clarice by surprise.

"...for him."

"Ahem, for him to use on you? Or...?"

"Me to use on him." Smiling sheepishly, Clarice peeked up from beneath her fluttering lashes.

"And now I gotta go buy me some of that." Marie throatily laughed past her own surprise, wondering just where two songs would get her, "You guys are gonna be the death of my bank account!"

"Well then, I got something else for you to add to your cart! Voila!"

"Bondage cuffs?" Marie found herself hoping her lilac skin hid her blush, "...for who?"

Grinning up at her in that way Jubes did when she was about to drop the kind of bombshell to silence the class, there wasn't a teacher at Xavier's who didn't know when to cut her off. "Well, I'm thinking you could get your lap dance on with Logan tied up to a chair. But if you got a better idea, I so wanna hear it!"

"What about handcuffs, they're kinda kinky...right?" Putting on the kind of poker face that said she didn't already own a pair, Rogue waited for Jubilee's thoughtful reply.

"As a girl who has worn them in the not kinky kinda way, trust me, it's leather or nothing for my wrists."

From one runaway to another, that meant something.  And talk about where she could have ended up if Logan hadn't been there for when she'd been hitching a ride outta Vancouver, carrying only a knapsack and a sign that read Alaska or Bust. Giving Lee a hug, Clarice was looking herself a might bit too embarrassed not to go and pull on in for a straight up puppy pile of happy smiles.

"I've missed this." Marie croaked.

Feeling the warmth of cheeks against her own, the brush of skin and the freedom not to worry about whether she was covered up enough, Marie wasn't about to let another hug go taken for granted.

"Aw, I missed shopping for sex toys with you too, Roguey! Now, since I obviously got your attention, I need you and my sissy's opinion on something I saw a mannequin wearing..."

"Gawd, you're horrible. I'm just glad Clarice knows what I'm talking about..." Growling her aggravation at having the moment ruined, a peek down to Little Miss Ferguson had Marie groaning.

"Here, you can have this one, I'll just run back and grab a new bottle. There were a couple I didn't think I'd want to try, but I think I want to give them a go now..."

"Dammit Clarice, not you too! And don't think I won't be coming with you!" Marie added with a sigh, "Here, lemme try these out on ya, Jubes."

"Kinky! Wait a minute, you just wanna keep me outta trouble, don'tcha!"

Snapping the cuffs together to tie up Jubilee's wrists behind her back, Marie picked up both of their baskets and followed after Clarice, "And don't think the first gag I don't see isn't getting shoved in that mouth of yours."

"What? And no safeword? Scandalous! Oh, and FYI, I was already looking at the ring gags..."

Thinking of the few fellas they were waiting for them back at the school, the boys sure as shit didn't know what kind of trouble they were in for. But it was her own man who was gonna be in for it. Logan always talked about his lil Darlin's like they were trouble, from Vancouver to Alaska,  and all the way to Upper New York State. Never did a week go by that Lee and Little Miss Ferguson didn't surprise her, proving Logan right every damned time they pulled some stunt or another.

"TMI, Jubes, seriously TMI."

"Says the girl looking to bone the guy Clarice and me think of as our grouchy big bro!"

"...it is kind of icky, Rogue." Clarice agreed with a disgusted twist of her lips.

"The two of you can just fuck right off as of right now! Yer like sisters to me! I don't need to hear this kinda shit about Logan when we're shoppin' where we are! Gawd! Wait, never mind, I just found me a ring gag. Careful what ya wish for, Lee..."

"I was joking...!"

The words died as the leather was tied, silencing Lee in that way at least a few people at the Xavier's School for Gifted Children only wished they could have, but that was the kind of kinky fantasy Marie had long since outgrown. A teacher dishing out a different kind of detention hadn't done it for her in years, and she sure as fuck wasn't no naive schoolgirl so innocent as not to know just what it was she did to a man... _Oh hecks no_.

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	21. Chapter 21

 

 

Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made from this work.

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Having passed by the place more times than she could remember, Marie never expected to find herself passing through the doors of the most infamous photography studio Westchester had to offer. From the mannequins out front always dressed for the holidays, to the tame photographs of satisfied clients, it didn't need to advertise that it specialized in the sort of boudoir photography meant to keep things interesting in a relationship.

"How the heck do you got a coupon for this place?" Marie asked of the gal who often answered to 'the usual suspect'.

"I know a guy who knows the owner. Long story short, she needed a model for some portfolio work, like, serious photography. So, tits for tats, I got paid under the table with a few IOUs," replied Jubilee with nary a hint of embarrassment.

"Is that how you got the one you gave Jean?" Enquired Clarice, if just a little too eagerly.

"Wait a minute, Jean said ya gave her cash?" Having been present at the wedding shower of the then future Missus Summers, Marie fixed Jubilee with a straight up, no bullshit dose of _you got some explaining to do_ that she usually saved for her own students.

"She lied, one of the rare times I was intentionally projecting. 'Sides, I figured Doc Grey would want herself some photos that you won't go finding in her wedding album, you know what I'm sayin'?"

Biting her bottom lip, Marie all too easily knew just what Jubilee was saying, or rather everything she wasn't. From the gown to the garter, there was a whole lot of undressing to be done before the newlyweds could consummate their marriage, and god damn if she couldn't stop imagining Jean posing as a shy and blushing bride for the camera.

So lost to these thoughts that she didn't notice that she, nor her friends, were no longer alone, Marie let loose an embarrassed hiccup of a yelp as she stood transfixed by the eyes that captured her in theirs. Dressed in worn jeans and a loose sweater that dangled about her lithe frame, a women leaned against the counter with a smile set upon her lips.

This woman's hair, like her own, was streaked white against a reddish brown, though Marie did think that dye was at play, and that the silvery white was her natural colour. To see her smile was to know all her laugh lines had been well earned over the years, and that they were proudly worn.

"Like the ripples from a skipped stone, one beauty leads to the next. When you called to see if I had room for you to cash in one of those IOUs, I never thought you'd be bringing me such captivating friends. I should thank Piotr again for introducing us."

"Gawd, Reese! Way to keep that on the down low," snapped Jubilee, complete with a forehead smacking slap that ended with her hiding her face behind her hands, "Well I guess you guys know who that friend of a friend is now. Guys, Reese. Reese, guys."

"Marie."

"Clarice."

Introductions, and one mystery, now out of the way, Marie found she wasn't alone in silently grilling Jubilee for some certain details she had left out, like just what her and Pitor had been getting up. But that was to be an interrogation for later, as Reese announced herself anew with the slamming of a hinged slab of counter falling against the other in a loud and abrupt invitation.

"If one of you would be so nice to flip the sign to closed, I'll go get my camera."

"For flip sake, what the heck did ya get us into this time, Lee?!"

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Stripping bare another rib to toss to his namesake, Logan chased it with a beer pulled from the icy bath of the nearby cooler. Beneath him, Wolvie chewed and gnawed his way to the marrow looking a pup in heaven if he'd ever seen one. Hauling his arse up out of the beat up old Adirondack chair he'd been enjoying, there were still a couple of steaks on that needed checking, three fingers thick of the choicest cuts the butcher had to offer, with just salt and pepper to season.

And off at the end of the dock, James and Bishop stood nursing their brews for a bit of a heart to heart. The two of them had gone for a walk that had been long enough to see a rack of ribs cooked slow, having themselves a third wheel in Wolvie who kept bringing back the very sticks they absently tossed for a little game of fetch.

"Steaks up!" shouted Logan, getting himself one interested pup looking up from his bone.

Ambling back without much of a word between them, James and Bishop alike grabbed their plates of the white speckled camping kit borrowed for a barbeque down at the half sunk boathouse. Leaving the boys to enjoy a bite in some peace and quiet, he threw on another rack of ribs, pre-seasoned with a rub of spices not even his sharp nose nor tongue could make heads or tails of, just another trade secret of the best butcher Westchester had to offer.

Three bites in though, Proudstar put down his fork and knife to have a long and slow sip of his beer. It wasn't the steak that had his mouth twisted into a frown, instead it was the secret that had been let out of the bag like a mangey ol' tomcat. Giving Wolvie a petting as James figured out what he was gonna say, Logan didn't shy away from the confused gaze staring back at him.

"It's true what he said, all of it?"

Twice now Bishop had to trust his gut and fess up a hard truth, and to think of the first time, Logan didn't doubt the kid's bravery, not when he he'd gone and confessed to someone he couldn't recall from the madness of that nightmare. Raising a hand to silence him from having to go for a third round, Logan let loose a ragged breath that stole his strength for what he had to go and admit.

"I wouldn't believe it myself if I hadn't gone and lived it. Fuck, if I didn't have Chuck and Hank to tell me otherwise? Well, I might think I'd finally gone off the deep end after too damn long a life lived. And while I don't know exactly all of what Bishop here told you, I trust him enough to know whatever he told ya was something he felt ya needed to know."

It was a long while until James picked up his knife and fork again, having himself another bite of steak to be washed down with a sip of beer.

"He told me things he couldn't know about me, and how he knew." Shaking his head at the sheer craziness of it, James fixed the men who had lived that life with the respect he felt they were due, thankful to not have to find out how he'd react in their stead.

Hitting the grill to tend to his ribs, the creak and groan of weathered wood announced a James heading off for a walk, one that had a pup happy to tag along by the beckoning whistle that called Wolvie to join him. Left alone with another survivor from the war, Logan welcomed the peace and quiet as much as Bishop. Yet the remembered pain in his knuckles remained, the pain of dishing out a beating Proudstar didn't deserve, a steak dinner a sorry way to apologize.

"You're still waiting for the other boot to drop, ain't ya?"

"I just want to be ready if it does."

Clocking hours in the Danger Room that put ol' Slim Summers to shame, Bishop was a man driven by the madness that had chased him for the weeks and months it'd taken him to find his way. Cutting the kid some slack, Bishop didn't have Chuck waiting to set the record straight, not like him. The fat lot of good it did...

"While I'll drink to that, something tells me ya need a hobby. One that don't involve keepin' Hank busy putting a polish back on the Danger Room when yer finished with it."

"A hobby?" Bishop asked, with a snort of laughter that was good to hear.

"Why don't ya sleep on it."

Plating his rack of ribs, Logan snagged a couple of fresh beers and filled the empty seat James had left behind. Tossing one to Bishop, a barbeque with the boys was just another reminder of they'd been fighting for, "Cheers, bub."

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

Wandering the streets of Westchester for a girls night out, any worries Marie had about walking into a boudoir photography studio had long since been forgotten. Joined by Jean, Ororo, and the Oxford bound girl of the hour herself, Kitty Pryde, it was a send off to all the special moments captured that they never be forgotten.

Lingering alongside Reese, she tried to act casual as two of her friends got up to a little monkey business with a street lamp lit up for the night.

"Jubes, you're gonna get us arrested!" snapped Kitty, even as she herself did her best Gene Kelly sans an umbrella.

"Puh-lease! You just jealous you don't have the legs for this!" Dangling upside down from on high for a risque pose, Jubilee tugged at her shirt to keep it from falling down over her head.

Snapping a few of the girls, Reese let her camera dangle as she waved them off from the light pole. Handing the lady back her cup of coffee, Marie enjoyed a sip of her chai tea with a smirk as Jubilee and Kitty kept arguing ahead of them.

"I'm still trying to figure out just which one you are."

"Huh?" Laughing at the odd remark, Marie couldn't help but notice the watchfulness Reese had for her, all saved up in the corner of her eye as they walked along.

"Well, Clarice strikes me as the quiet and shy one when left to herself, but she opens up when she's with her friends. As for Kitty? I think she's the responsible one, or at least she tries to be. Deep down I think she's a bit of a worrier, mostly because something scared her really good once."

Sucking a sharp breath at her own surprise, Marie stared after Reese in a moment of uneasy wonder. People asking questions usually lead to them asking the ones she didn't want to answer, questions like why a girl as pretty as her dressed up so much on a hot summer day. It was enough to make her wonder just what Reese knew, or what she thought she knew. But still, with the lady being a friend of Pete's, that said a lot even as it begged a question...

"So, just how do ya know Pete?"

"Piotr? He's my casual part-timer," replied Reese.

Feeling her cheeks burn as she imagined Pete working at Westchester's infamous studio, Marie didn't even notice the camera staring back at her until it was too late, the flutter of the shutter revealing Reese smiling back at her, sweet and sublime.

"Casual part-timer?"

Whatever that meant, though, it would have to wait. Walking past a store selling gemstone jewellery, Reese had her camera out again to capture a scene playing out inside, that of Ororo searching a rack of earrings for a pair to compliment the elfin beauty that was Clarice. Noticed at last, she didn't need to ask Reese just which of all the photos taken would be her favourite, it was the one undoubtedly the one which caught Ororo and Clarice waving back at them.

That would be the one to make it into the album meant to keep Kitty company through all the lonely nights she had ahead of her. Thinking back to just what Reese had been asking in her round about way, Marie let her eyes wander the shop as she wondered herself just which one she was, finding an answer in the familiar.

"I can be a bit o' the bossy one, ya know, the one trying to keep some folk I know from getting into too much trouble. Even if I don't mind me some trouble myself."

Not waiting for the older woman's impression, Marie wandered into the shop to go have a better look at something that had caught her eye, two feathers cast of silver hanging from a delicate chain. Resting a hand to her neck that fell to the very cleft of her breast, never in all of her life had she felt like that something was missing until she saw it, except for the day Logan had shown in that beat up old camper of his to give her a ride as far north as he was heading.

Clasping her hand tight against the impossible longing that drew her forward, the little white tag had her suddenly regretting her earlier shopping trip with Clarice and Jubes. Tracing a fingertip against the edge of one feather, the presence of someone behind her had Marie go stiff. Though as arms reached about to pull her into a hug, she knew without asking just who it was, Jean.

With her fret and worry melting away, now familiar hands reached for the very necklace she'd been admiring only to drape it about her neck with but a soft brush of the silver chain.

"There, just as beautiful as I thought it would look."

"Just a bit too rich for my blood at the moment, well, after a lil shopping trip with Jubes and Clarice anyways." Gently twisting the chain between her fingers, though, it was hard to imagine ever taking it off again with how right it felt.

"Sorry, no, I'm not accepting that. You never know in a shop like this when it could be the last one they have," tutted Jean, "So! What we're going to do is go up to that nice lady at the register, and you can just pay me back later."

"And here I told Reese that I was the bossy one."

Laughing at the curiosity her remark piqued in Jean, Marie surrendered to a heartfelt hug that saw her walked up to the register. Letting her misty eyes retreat to the window to search for Reese, there she stood with her camera in hand in a secret promise that she had caught that moment too. With a wave of her own, Piotr's part-time employer headed off to chase after the errant girls who had carried on ahead of them.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-


	22. Chapter 22

Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made from this work.  
  
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    With plenty enough hours left to dawdle her way towards the inevitable dawn, Marie didn’t mind taking herself a bit of a detour along the road that would see her home, especially not if it was Logan who went and suggested it in the first place.  Westchester was now just fond memory of an impromptu night out with all the special ladies in her life, and damn if she wasn’t looking forward to seeing just how well Reese had gone and caught it, one picturesque moment to the next.  Pulling on into the gravel lot of  the Roadhouse, she found her partners in crime snuggled up together and snoozing in the back seat of their borrowed school SUV.  
  
“Golly, I guess I’ll just have to wake them up...” Marie whispered to herself, with plenty of mischief in her smile.  
  
    Half a second away from blasting the horn as to rouse the two troublemakers, she thought better of it and found her phone instead.  Snapping a few pictures, there were some fellas who’d likely appreciate the candid moment.  Happily having herself a chit worth at least a few rounds on someone else’s dime, Marie didn’t hesitate to lay on the horn, long and loud.  
  
    Clarice and Jubes woke in a startled mess of profanity, panic, and a few harmless pafs.  Though only as they realized where they were, did they look up to the rear view to glare absolute and bloody murder at the party responsible, her.  Biting her lip hard against laughing out right, Marie could hardly see through her tears, damn near pissing herself with bottled laughter.  
  
“What’re we doin’ here, I only come here with Wolvie,” groused Jubilee, yawning whilst stretching out the aches she’d picked up snuggling with Clarice.  
  
    Okay, that little slip of the tongue right there was enough to paint Jubilee as if she were fifteen all over again.  Feeling a smile tugging at her lips as she remembered the horrible brat that girl had been back then, Marie peeked over at Clarice, only to see plenty of trouble in those vivid green eyes glaring right back at her.  They were eyes the likes she’d only ever seen once before in her life, the day Clarice had gone and actually bit her, a ‘ _You had to be there_ ’ moment if there ever was one.  
  
“The first round’s on me.” Marie swore, needing to defuse the situation before it damn well blew up in her face.  
  
“...I thought you said you were broke?” Clarice went and called her out, sneaky little elf.  
  
“I got me some currency that’s worth at least that much to some interested parties.”  
  
    Now, and in only some dark little place in her soul, Marie sometimes hated just how tit for tat Jubes and Clarice could be at times.  All it ever took was a look between the two of them to see them on the same page, and shit if they didn’t have her in their crosshairs this time.  
  
“This currency you got, it wouldn’t also happen to be worth a plate of wings, would it?” Jubilee asked.  
  
“Don’t forget the blue cheese dipping sauce.” Clarice rather verbally nudged.  
  
    Rolling her eyes as she killed the engine, Marie got out without another word.  She had a fella waiting on her, smiling just a little saucily as she strutted up on to the doors.  The music blasting weren’t fit for a slow dance, no sir, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t be looking to find her way out to the floor.  Two songs was becoming a temptation she couldn’t resist for much longer.  
  
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    Playing a few hands of poker with the usual suspects, hands were folded and fell victim to the whim of Lady Luck herself.  Keeping the game friendly, to buy a seat at the table was to order up a pitcher or two from the bar, all depending on how many chairs were filled.  It was good natured fun at its best, with a bottle being called for as high as the stakes ever got.  Looking at his hand, Logan found it to be the kind of shit that only the bold or stupid would try and bluff their way through.  
  
“I fold.” He didn’t need his sharp nose, nor eyes, to know the men across from him had better than him, and they sure as damn well knew it.  
  
    Enjoying himself an idle moment between hands, a look to the pool tables saw Bishop and James calling shots between sips of their beers.  With how loud the music was, he couldn’t eavesdrop on them, no matter how tempting as it might be. Yet it was in the easy way they joked with another, as much as their unheard laughter, that he knew they were bonding.  _Good_ , both him and ol’ Jimmy Howlett grunted, approving of the boys his little Darlin’s had found a fancy for.  
  
    The two of them, Clarice and Jubilee alike, they’d both been much younger than Marie when he’d found them.  And just like the girl who had gone and called herself Rogue at that fateful introduction, the both of them had done things they weren’t proud just so they could get by.  Rubbing at the sudden itch between his knuckles, damn if that wasn’t a club they all belonged to.  
  
    Funny that, how all it took to disturb him from these dark thoughts was a gust of the evening air being welcomed in, one that carried with it the scent of three ladies who each held a special place in his heart.  Walking in together with all the authority as if they owned the joint, Clarice, Jubilee, and Marie wandered up to the bar with the kind of shit eating grins that said their ID’s were fake, and sorry would be the fucker to go and try and prove it.  
  
    Without a doubt he knew just whose tab that first round was getting thrown on, his, feeling a growl roll deep from beneath his breast as he saw some young fellas enjoying themselves too long a lingering look at his little ladies.  But for the ones that fell on Marie, his Rogue, he rose up and out of his chair with a dark purpose in mind.  
  
“Deal me out, and the next rounds on me.” Logan said, throwing down enough cash to see the next pitcher bought and paid for.  
  
    Never once did he have to beg a pardon in passing as he stalked towards the bar, many the faces in the crowd good and plenty familiar to him.  It was standing room only as he got to the bar, with some fuckers playing at being casual as they leaned in past his ladies to call their orders to the folks tending bar.  Too many a brushed touch in passing was left to be believed as something innocent, even if their suggestive smiles and the lust in their eyes told the truth.  Clenching his fists tight, the itch between his knuckles was insatiable.  
  
    At last the spark came to inflame the tinder that was his temper, catching sight of some prick trying to chat up Marie.  By her grimace, the fucker’s breath must have been ripe with booze.  Bulling his way through to the bar, Logan caught the sucker by the shoulder to haul him off and away from Marie.  For all the promises of violence he felt upon the tip of his tongue, two words tumbled out faster, “She’s taken.”  
  
    Even with how loud the bar was he couldn’t miss her gasp, nor the sweet scent of satisfaction as Marie rose up beside him to wrap her arms about his chest, unspokenly answering him in kind, her reply but a word, _Mine_.  
  
    For all the fight that filled the fools eyes as he glared back up from the wrong end of a fist, sudden sobriety surged forth to quell whatever cocksure words had been on his lips.  Letting loose his grip, Logan sent the man off into the crowd with but a gravely grunt to see him on his way.  
  
    To feel her fingers slide within his, seeking to sooth away the awful burning between his knuckles with all the gentleness of a kitten’s kneading, Logan felt his longing for a fight finally snuffed out.  Led low by the lure of her emerald eyes, his gaze fell to where her hand held his, naked and exposed.  
  
“Fancy a smoke?”  
  
    Her throaty purr was all the answer he needed, never once letting go as he led her astray back into the dark of the night she had but just come from, relishing the feel of her palm pressed against his grow wet with sweat. Carnal were his thoughts as he wandered with her out the doors of the Roadhouse, savouring as it finally came the spark of pain that lit in her eyes a feral light.  
  
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    Feeling flushed with a warmth that screamed _indecent_ , Jubilee looked to Clarice to find her blushing full on _Smoke on the Water_ kinds of Deep Purple, “Uh, okay.  Neat to know I’m not the only one then, because god damn that was hot!”  
  
“So, shots?” Clarice suggested.  
  
“Oh fuck yes!”  
  
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End file.
